Mobile Barcodes in France – Interview with CEO mobiletag Domenico Surace and Christian Viala
So, I just had an honest and interesting conversation with Domenico Surace the CEO of French Mobile Barcode company mobiletag and Christian Francois Viala (mobiletag).
mobiletag was part of French mobile search and idle screen company Abaxia – but is now a spin off (since 2006).
Both Domenico (Italian) and Christian-François have very heavy Italian and French accents: but definitely not sore for the ears. As a result, I managed to get all the information that I wanted out of them during an interview today.
In essence, I tried to answer many of the questions readers had posted and get an overview of the company.
Bena: Tell me about mobiletag?
Answer: Mobiletag is a French company that offers global solutions to manage mobile barcodes. We develop the barcodes readers, create the applications and manage contracts for services with operators as well.
Bena: So you develop the barcode reader for the phone, contracts and the barcode platform?
Answer: Yes. Our goal is to create a 2D barcode eco-system. We provide all that is necessary to deploy, offer and serve mobile barcodes.
Bena: Are you the mobile barcode leader in France?
Answer: Yes.
Bena: Can you elaborate?
Answer: We own 70% of the market in France. We work with Bouygues and have also signed a contract with Orange.
Bena: So, you just don’t work with SFR?
Answer: We are currently responding to an RFP based on the AFMM specifications (mobiletag)
But the point is that we are focusing on creating the standard for mobile barcodes in France and we actively promote the right technology to move the barcode services forward.
Bena: Yes. Tell me more about the AFMM
Answer: The French multimedia authority has chosen are our standards as defacto in France.
Bena: But what does that mean. Everyone has to license your technology?
Answer: No. We give our barcode reader away for free to anyone in the world. We enforce a global standard and actively promote this within the OMA and outside it locally to promote mobile applications.
Bena: So if you give this away for free what about companies like Nokia that are creating handsets with their own proprietary barcode reader inside of it?
Answer: The mobile market is an operator driven market in Europe. This means that operators still decide what applications to use in devices and right now – this is mobiletag technology in France.
Bena: So I am sorry if it sounds silly. But everyone is after standardisation. But everyone seems to want standardisation of their own technology. Does this mean a different standard in Asia (QR) another one in the US and another in Europe.
Answer: Yes. I can see that happening.
What we think?
OK, I have one interview left with Scanbuy and then I will do a SWOT of the mobile barcode market and companies.
Mobile statistics on barcodes in France from Mobiletag
- 100 000 barcodes have been created in the French market
- 100 000 connexions each month.
Related News:
- MobileTag, the AFMM and French Mobile Barcode Standardisation
- Mobile Barcodes: mobiletag wins SFR in France
- Abaxia MobileTag application on Nokia N70 devices in France
- Mobile visual barcode company Scanbuy gets 6.8 million USD Series B 1 investment
- More NeoMedia Changes as Dr. Christian Steinborn becomes new COO
5 Responses to “Mobile Barcodes in France – Interview with CEO mobiletag Domenico Surace and Christian Viala”
I read your news regularly do you have anything
Comment made on March 4th, 2008 at 1:58 pmnew on Neomedia?
Hi Bena,
Comment made on March 4th, 2008 at 2:28 pmThanks for the interview.
Is SFR still working with Scanbuy/Wister in France? I think Mobiletag will have a certain success locally because the AFMM, Bouguyes and Orange are behind them. Will they have a success abroad? Mobiletag reader can only read Datamatrix 2d codes. That’s probably not enough. People will not download four or five barcode readers. Furthermore, the common mortals are not yet able to differentiate all types of barcodes existing on this planet. For example, the website designer of “Sprint Phone IQ,” was unable to tell the difference between the Ezcode codes and the Aztec codes.
Http://www.sprintspecialoffers.com/phoneiq/
We all know that Scanlife or Hotscan can not read and decipher the Aztec codes.
I guess, I really do not have anything nice to say about this interview.
Why not fight for a standard so that the reader works no matter where you are in the world? If you travel in the U.S., Asia, or Europe why do I need more than one reader to surf the physical world.
I guess it would be like the French to stand up and fight and then run when the going gets tough.
Comment made on March 4th, 2008 at 5:51 pmBehind the “standardization” excuse, everyone can see the real goal of the french operators. It is the old “kiosque” model, that has already made their success in France. 2D barcodes are very disruptive in that they allow every brand to create their mobile site and give access to it through 2D barcodes to their customers. The telcos hate this idea. So the best way to control a disruptive technology is to “give away” to the world a telco-controlled technology, i.e. Mobiletag. We all know the tight relationships between Orange, Abaxia and AFMM. Some lawyers are writing on this…
Comment made on March 19th, 2008 at 12:06 amIt is nothing more than another attempt to the open market rules, the french telcos have already been condemned for this kind of behaviours by the Brussels EU Court !
Do you have any proof? Which lawyers?
Comment made on March 19th, 2008 at 1:34 amLeave a Comment