Mobile 2d barcodes are one of the things we pay the most attention to here at GoMo. On top of that, we’ve got a great interest in the growth of NFC. So we were extremely happy for the opportunity to interview Laurent Tonnelier, co-founder of mobiLead. This French company that both optical (barcodes) and radio (NFC) services integrated into a physical card in a user-friendly way.
Very quickly – what are 2d barcodes and NFC?
2d barcodes contain more information than your traditional barcode. Cameraphones and scanners can get a lot of information from one – including flight details, web URLs and more. For more on 2d barcodes, check out our video. NFC is an extremely short-range (10 cm or so) wireless technology, that allows mobile devices to read RFID tags, or communicate with other NFC devices.
So what is the mobiLead offering?
mobiLead is focused on brands – particularly on opening communication between brands and consumers. For this, mobiLead is creating an “internet of things”. The “things” in the case are specially created cards with both barcodes and NFC on them. The idea behind these cards is to make it as easy as possible for consumers to use. Both the barcode and NFC on the cards points to the same destination on the mobile web.
As you can see, each card has multiple methods of connecting a users phone to a given mobile destination. Along with regular NFC communications, mobiLead cards can use the mir:ror and touchatag proprietary solutions. The barcodes can take the form of traditional UPC codes, as well as QR Codes and Datamatrix.
What are the advantages?
My biggest question was this: why should a large brand invest in unproven technology? Very few people currently use NFC, despite it’s promise. And outside of transport, mobile barcodes have not been as big as they could in the US and Europe. Laurent gave me the full spiel on why mobiLead is good for brands.
First is that mobiLead combines so many channels. Each one may have a relatively small audience, but combining them all in one point gives you a much larger consumer base. If you have a URL encoded on a mobiLead card, the same URL will be in the NFC chip, the touchatag, mir:ror and barcode.
Second is analytics. Each mobiLead card has a unique ID code that applies to all its channels. So a brand can clearly monitor how, where and when these cards are being used, without needing any private information about the card holder. The cards are traceable, but anonymous.
Third is dialogue. The card opens a direct line between the consumer and the brand, so it is a genuine 2-way communication. The privacy part comes back into play here – the brand can open a dialogue with the card holder without ever needing to know their name. That’s another aspect of the “intertnet of things” idea – all communication is done through the actual “thing”; the card.
Fourth is non-intrusiveness. We’ve already mentioned the privacy aspect. But this is a card that a consumer has to actively use. It’s an opt-in service by design – it’s impossible to annoy someone with spam via a mobiLead card.
And finally, there are the deals that mobiLead has made. Of all the things we talked about, Laurent seemed most proud of this aspect. Not all of the channels that mobiLead uses are open. The barcode readers are fairly open – NeoMedia and UpCode provided all the 2d barcoding mobiLead needs. But both mir:ror and touchatag are non-compliant – they don’t work with anything else. Since mobiLead now has existing deals with all of these companies, a brand can access them all from the one source. So these agreements have been a big step. For example, mobiLead is the first touchatag partner that is not exclusively publishing touchatag NFC – they don’t even have to carry a touchatag
Laurent dazzles me with a pre-launch example at MWC
What we think?
I love the user-friendliness of this service. While not everyone will know how 2d barcodes or touchatag works, the basic NFC offering is accessible by almost anyone. You don’t need any downloads or prior knowledge to use the card. The multiple redundancies do make it more likely that a mobiLead card will get a hit, despite the relatively low profile of the channels.
It also appeals to me that Mobilead does a lot of work with the GS1 Solution Partner Program. GS1 is a global standards body, responsible for both barcodes and RFID. Because of the work being done with bodies like that, as these new technologies are being developed, they are being developed to a global standard. The more mobile services we get that work to this level of consistency, the better.
