Nokia has released it’s Point & Find application for beta in the US and UK. The image recognition app can potentially recognise any real-world object through a smartphone camera. Once a recognised object is found, the app connects the smartphone browser to a mobile web page.
The beta version only works on movie posters. Users who point their cameraphones at movie posters will find themselves linked to a page with a trailer, review or the closest cinema showing the movie. Needless to say, the app requires a phone with a web browser, app capabilities, a camera and GPS. So, it needs a smartphone.
From the press release:
“Nokia Point & Find is an open service platform on which other companies can build innovative customized experiences to drive better engagement with potential customers. Nokia is inviting businesses, content providers and agencies to discuss how the Nokia Point & Find service could help them with specific applications, campaigns or promotional activities. Unique experiences can be created through the self-service Nokia Point & Find Management Portal, or by working with the Nokia Point & Find professional service team.”
What we think?
This is extremely similar to the ng Connect service shown to us by Alcatel-Lucent at MWC (skip forward to the three minute mark). I’m not making any allegations of copying – after all, this service was demoed by Nokia back in December as well. But it does make me ponder the future of this service and mobile barcodes.
While this is an impressive service, no doubt, I really can’t see it deplacing the barcode – in certain sectors. The movie poster / billboard application of image recognition is particularly cool, and I can really see it being taken advantage of. But for sectors like retail where uncountable millions of barcodes need to be reliably recognised across multiple borders, I just don’t see image recognition making a splash. Why program the necessity for recognising a complex image (ie, a pack of crisps) into a hundred different apps when you could just print a simple little black and white barcode in one corner?
Just another reason for the mobile barcode industry to choose a standard, and do it fast!
