Slashdot Mirror
Amazon Japan Offers Barcode Purchases via Camera Phone
Zode writes "Jesse James Garrett reports
that Amazon Mobile Japan customers can purchase a item with their camera phones. "Snap a photo of a product bar code using your cell phone, and Amazon Japan will give you a price check," according to Garrett, relaying from this article in Ketai Watch (Wireless Watch).
Here's the English translation from Babelfish."
...in 6 years. That's how these things tend to go.
also 4th post.
It looks as though the shopping is done from bar codes on Real-ads :)
:)
Bar codes are kinda hard to get right on a mobile phone camera (but I think high end only).
This is the beginning of a new cross-shopping trend. Enter a shop, look for a product , enter in amazon , measure urgency vs economy , pick it up or order
I already saw a company in India offer an IR universal remote control for their phones (Nokia 3220 IIRC) . Was a trial version for 15 days after which it asks whether you want to buy the app. You pay for it through your mobile too and the bill comes down to you as part of your monthly phone bill.
M-commerce , eh ?
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
you could put the price on the bar code tag instead, thereby saving your customers time and energy.
They won't even need a cell phone. Imagine that!
That's amazingly far out. It sounds like something from a scifi movie... but it could turn out to be useful. I doubt my camera phone can take such clear pictures (hey, I have trouble recognizing myself) but all things are possible in Japan. Just out of curiosity (the Babelfish article did NOT make sense) would this mean that while buying something at a shop, you would realize it's cheaper on Amazon? I don't know, taking into account shipping and the 1-2 days wait for products, I would just buy it at the store while it was right in front of me.
Why is Amazon publishing my male information?
How long until bookstores forbid the use of camera phones? I think many bookstore owners would be less than pleased if people only entered their store to be able to buy books from some other place.
John Carmack fan, browsing at +5 since 1999.
is standard barcodes and we could do price comparisons in the same way that shazam tags recorded music.
Imagine sending a picture of a barcode to ebay to see if there's an auction for that item running.
Well, this seems like a neat system, however, I hardly ever use Amazon as a price referance, I tend to look at ebay when I buy things. If it's retail, then it's retail. It's the aftermarket price that I worry about... Unless www.pricewatch.com can come up with a system like this, that woud be snazzy
--
Great that this idea is being implemented.I have thought of fiddling with the Dutch equivalent of Pricewatch and Froogle on my Treo 600 in a store to see for instance what a certain keyboard would cost elsewhere. In the end I ended up with searching online first for what I wanted and just recording the prices on a paper list. (envelope scraps are just so passe)
I would like to add a feature request. Could they hook it up to the review sections as well, so that it becomes possible not only to see how much it costs elsewhere, but also if people like it at all. Even nicer would be if it could turn into some augmented shopping list, complete with tips like If you buy this, you will need that etc.
Use Adsense for Charity
First, one of the benefits of bar codes is that you don't have to put individual price tags on items anymore.
Second, if you had to pay someone to manage all of those price tags, you'd have to raise your prices thereby making amazon an even more attractive alternative and losing even more business in the proces.
Third, did you even think about what you were suggesting before you did it?
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
CueCat was entirely different.
They were trying to do target advertising where you could scan a paper catalog and they would take you to a propreitery website with the information.
This meant that you had to do it from home, and you knew _their_ prices for the catalogs.
(they also had something where you could connect to the TV, if am not mistaken)
Either way, their model failed because they were giving away a piece of hardware away for free.
I saw Jeff Bezos on TechTV about a year ago and he talked about this technology as being a precursor to complete optical product recognition.
...not that I would use such a service, even if it existed... ...but if you happen to, you know, come across one.. maybe.. let me know?
Essentially, he explained, you could take a picture of anything from the cover of a book to an action figure, mountain bike, sandbox, stereo reciever, sweatshirt or snow mobile and recieve price comparison from Amazons network of retail sites and "shops."
I remember it distinctly because it was the first time i actually felt that a camera on a cell phone wasn't the most idiotic idea I've ever heard.
This was, of course, BEFORE I discovered that women stick their camera-phones down their pants and take pictures, and ACTUALLY POST THEM ON THE INTERNET!
Hmm.. I wonder if Amazon.nl would give you a price comparison of THAT... hmmm...
... but in my county you have to pay money to send photos from a cell phone to someone. So instead of spending my money on products I'm asked to spend my money on getting the price for the products? That looks quite strange to me. :-)
Your argument is correct for the most part. I'm willing to bet some are going to hate it. However a smart salesperson can also use it to his/her advantage. Point the buyer at the fact that the price difference is not large, that their are benefits in buying in a shop, because of service and then use a recommendation for an extra as a way to sell an item on top of the deal. If there is a steep price difference then try to give the buyer a package deal with a discount, which still leaves the seller with a nice margin.
Research in the Netherlands has shown most Dutch people search online for product information, but buy offline if the price difference is not too high, or they want instant gratification etc etc.
Use Adsense for Charity
I ran the babelfish translation through a markov generator and was not surprised when the output made more sense than the babelfish translation. Here:
... ... ... doing
The Amazon Japan
did the portable edition of online book store "Amazon.co.jp" service
is started from 2001, but
was done attendant upon the efficiency improvement multi-functionality
of carrying. Were added in personal computer edition became purchase
possible. In addition, such as CD sales ranking of search keyword
ranking and American Amazon the male also information is published.
Also navigation and search function of the portable telephone and
can scan the bar-code of the commodity, also the service which with
the same sight the purchase possible commodity it can order directly.
At the same company, when the commodity which order and the friend
of the consumable have likes, when liking to know whether what kind
of related commodity sells in other things, with you say that utilization
when you said is supposed. EZweb, border phone live! Edition, while
looking at the trend of i mode edition, have assumed that it keeps
examining. On the 22nd concert was held inside capital. As for jasper
of Representative President same company,
"those where the commodity is discovered in Amazon with scan search,
become very simple", that appealing the easiness of the same service.
Concerning
portable edition "with respect to the strategy, as the importance
you consider also Mobile", that it does, "function of personal computer
edition even with Mobile steadily probably becomes possible. On the
one hand, keeps constructing also just Mobile feature ", that you
talked the future enthusiasm. As for access to of portable edition
Amazon.co.jp, if with the same
Blearf. Blearf, I say.
It means mobile and is used as a slang (or rather abbrevation) for mobile phone (which is keitai-denwa). So keitai watch is a news site about phones, not wireless stuff in general.
It's BTW pronounced ke-tai.
Buy all your crazy japanese videogames from
This is the first time that I actually see a sane reason to have a camera in a mobile phone. They're too crappy for taking real pictures, they increase the weight of the phone by 25%, more and more places are banning cam-phones... But at least now you can use them to buy stuff at Amazon. ;-)
I wonder if they patented this...
I said 'readable', I didn't say 'good'... I'm at work. Anyway:
Amazon japan have updated the mobile phone version of the amazon.co.jp shopping site, which they run. The menu and search screens have been completely redone, and for iMode, there's a service starting whereby you can scan a barcode using your phone and look up or buy an item.
The amazon.co.jp online store mobile verison was opened in 2001 but has been remade in the light of the improved power and functionality of mobile phones. The 'home & kitchen' and 'toy & hobby' stores, included in the PC version of the site, are now in the mobile version, and products not in the PC version's 'marketplace' can be bought too. Recommendations appear too, in the form of search keyword rankings and the CD sales rankings from the US version.
The navigation and search functionality of the menu screens has been enhanced too. In each store, bargain corner products, 'campaign' (ie sales promotion) information, and discounted 'red' prices are visible -- as well as product images. In product search, detailed search features are available depending on the type of product, and a search can be done from any screen.
As a new experiment, the iMode-oriented 'Amazon Scan Search' service has been begun. With this, you download a free specialized application, and using the camera in your mobile you can scan the barcodes on items. After scanning, a request is sent to the mobile version of amazon.co.jp, and if the item is one that can be obtained at that site, you can order it. The same company also suggests you use the feature when ordering consumables, or when you want an item like one that your freind has, or when you want to see what related products are for sale. The 'Vodaphone Live!' version of EZWeb is also considering the iMode trend.
A product launch was held on the 22nd. Amazon's representative director, Jasper Chan, emphasized the convenience of the new service, saying 'With Scan Search, discovering Amazon products has become unbelievably easy!' Concerning the remake of the mobile version of the site, he said 'We see mobiles as strategically vital' and describing the enthusiasm with which the matter will be taken forward, he said 'Whatever functionality is available to the PC version will, more and more, be in the mobile version as well. On the other hand, we will also be building functionality specially to suit mobiles'.
The amazon.co.jp mobile version is accessed via iMode from 'Shopping Ticket', via EZWeb from 'Shopping'/'Books/CDs/DVDs', and via Vodaphone Live! from 'Shopping/Ticket'/'Books/CDs/DVDs/Games'.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
The good folks at Delicious Monster have the Delicious Library where you can use your iSight or other camera to scan your DVD library barcodes for ease of use. Quite pornographic.
Especially for making links on flyers easy to follow with your i-mode or ez-web (two largest mobile online services in Japan) enabled phone.
You just smack a barcode on the bottom of your ad-flyer (for the latest PS2-game, or whatever) and have people shooting them with their phone-camera and instantly get redirected to the product homepage. Kinda neat and really handy as entering URLs on a phone is a real pain in the ass.
These barcodes also confirm to some sort of standard (dunno the name), so it's easy for whoever to print out their own barcodes recognizable by the phones.
Buy all your crazy japanese videogames from
Introduction, Preliminary, Inventions not Patentable clearly mentions something about e-Patents .. so that post can be easily forgotten .
India does offer Process Patents but explicitly prevents patenting naturally occurring substances or extracts there of. However you are free to patent your form of culturing or producing an anti-biotic or vaccine. Patent infringement can be enforced in India as is with any other country in the world. Interestingly , Prior art of Foreign origin are valid in India - unlike the USPTO .
Get an OSS Loving, Nuke Missile Desgning President for your country too :)
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
I'd like that, too! And with bar codes on invoices and stuff Internet-bank users like myself wouldn't have to manually punch the account numbers, names, KID-numbers and such if both the phone and the PC has BlueTooth. Which they do. :-)
This message has been ROT-13 encrypted twice for higher security.
or how about you just sms the isbn number printed below the hard-to-scan ( no dammit that's not the book I want ) and obtain the same thing????
---
ummm just scan it right there on the bookshelf, no purchase/store exit/return hoop jumping required...
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour Isaiah 3:5
Yeah, they split them because Japanese books are historically a smaller form factor than Western ones. Lord of the Rings, for example, is sold as an 11 book box set. Smaller books fit in handbags better, and given than nearly everyone in Tokyo has a painfully long commute, making books small enough to hold in one hand while standing is a good idea. I used to reverse commute from my place in central Tokyo out to the National Cancer Center East, about 2 hours in all, and standing most of the way. Little books would have been nice.
I'm not sure this will catch on or that I'd want it to with RFID right around the corner. How long before RFID replaces every barcode on everything? Can't be much more than 5 years. This is a very cool thing though, especially the idea of being able to look up reviews for an item you're looking at in store.
They were trying to do target advertising where you could scan a paper catalog and they would take you to a propreitery website with the information.
This meant that you had to do it from home, and you knew _their_ prices for the catalogs.
The whole Digital Convergence thing at its heart was a neat idea. Frankly barcodes have been part of our lives for decades. It was only common sense to actually make software that would take advantage of it.
As far as doing it from home, I'm sure someone wrote a driver for the palm, but I doubt DC thought above and beyond laptops as far as a portable solution. At the time wireless internet was pretty rare.
(they also had something where you could connect to the TV, if am not mistaken)
AudioCues. Sometimes you got a mono rca to 1/8th inch headphone jack from the places that offered USB cuecats. Radioshack sold them. Again this was a pretty neat idea being able to have embedded urls on audio broadcasts. This was the one technology DC had a patent on IIRC, the one technology that no one seemed to be all that interested in. But it required that the end user not only have a free rca audio out from the TV, but their PC close enough to the pc to make a cable even desirable. And people didn't want to fuck with moving their crap around.
WIFI is far more likely to make this dream of "do you want to know more press here" a reality.
Either way, their model failed because they were giving away a piece of hardware away for free.
I wouldn't go as far as saying that. I feel they bit off more then they could chew. Their business plan was to basically get millions of people using this thing in under a year without establishing a nitch base. If I were to get average people to use the product, I'd start with CD and book collectors. Hell readerware is still around; a company I believe was formed around making an application out of the free barcode reader. If DC failed anywhere it's because they had no application that people were interested in. Sure they can scan in a Campbels can of soup, and their software would take you to their webstite, but not do anything useful beyond keeping track of who likes Campbel's soup. The few people who were interested in the CueCat had no interest in Digital Convergence.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.