AT&T to support QR code based advertising

I’ve talked about the impact QR codes can have on mobile advertising already in this blog. Now, it seems Americans will have an opportunity to try it out. AT&T recently decided to support one such technology developed by Mobot, a Massachusetts based company.

With this technology, you can use your mobile phone camera to scan a barcode, logo, or picture and get something cool in return. It might be a discount coupon, some cool stuff to download, or a gift voucher. It is also said that depending on the response that AT&T gets, Verizon and T-Mobile might also follow suit.

Google is also very excited about this technology as it might help Google set its foot in print advertising. Google plans to place print ads with barcodes that can be scanned by mobile phone cameras. Google analytics tools will take note of things like how many people scanned the ad and what type of ads got noticed so that you, as a mobile advertiser, can get an idea of how well your ad campaign has performed.

I think this could be a terrific idea if executed well. As a mobile user, I’d always find it easier to scan an ad with my mobile camera and get the info I want as opposed to responding to a text message. What do you guys say?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Mobile phone will make your life easier than ever

No, the title is not a hyperbole at all. In fact, it could very well be the fact a few years from now. Just check out a few technologies that are available in mobile phones right now.

GestureTek Mobile has a technology called EyeMobile Engine, which helps you create a gesture based interface with your mobile phone’s camera. With this, you can simply shake or rock your phone to answer calls, flip through songs or pictures, and more.

KnfbReading Technologies is a text-to-voice technology. You can capture text with your mobile phone camera and the phone will read it out for you. You have problems with your eyesight and can’t see something clearly? No problem. Just capture everything with your mobile phone camera and let this technology read out everything aloud for you.

Rove Mobile’s PC Mobilizr helps you connect to your PC. You can connect to your home PC or office PC via your mobile phone and access or modify any file in your PC right from your mobile phone.

This one is very familiar. Ask.com Mobile has a direction assistance service which requires you to just tell the start and end points. Instead of typing in the name of the place in the mobile keyboard, you can simply say it aloud and get help with the address and the direction of the place you’re looking for.

Apart from this, the two big names – Apple and Google are busy with mobile phones too. While Apple is busy with adding enterprise features to the iPhone to make it more resourceful than what it is right now, Google Android is something that will surely exceed our expectations.

In a few years from now, mobile phone will be what the PC was in the 90s. Or may be, even bigger than that.

Categories: All things mobile phones.

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Video broadcasting - Right on your mobile phone

If you happen to have a high-end mobile phone from Nokia, you can be a reporter of sorts. You can send live video to the internet right from your mobile phone.

Qik, a web startup based in Silicon Valley (where else?), has come up with a new software which allows you to send live video right from your Nokia mobile phone to the web, wherever you are. All you have to do is, point your mobile phone and capture anything you want through the mobile phone camera. You can go live and send it to the web and also save it for future reference. When you are done with your broadcasting, the video will be saved automatically.

The company has a list of Nokia N60 phones that support this software. You need to have any one of those phones to be able to use this software. Also, you need to have an unlimited data plan in order to be able to send live videos to the web, as videos can eat a lot of bandwidth.

This could be a great opportunity for people, particularly young ones, to share something live with the world. It could be anything – a simple party hosted by your friend, a small rock concert in your backyard, or your girlfriend making faces at you – you can stream videos to your friends right from your mobile phone. Damn; I’m kicking myself for not having bought a Nokia phone.

Categories: All things mobile phones, Nokia, Mobile Web.

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Cellphone Cinema Festival anyone?

And while we were busy discussing seriously about basic things like text messaging, MMS, mobile internet, and their role in mobile advertising, someone in India has successfully conducted a Cellphone Cinema Festival. Believe it or not, the films that featured were shot on mobile phone camera. It just goes to show how mobile phone technology has penetrated South Asia, particularly India. The West needs to take a leaf out of their Asian counterparts’ mobile market.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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