Mobile phones that can see

One of the current major limitations of mobile devices are the lack of easy to use interfaces. So seeing companies like Mobot think outside the box by using the mobile device’s camera as a search device is a small step in the right direction to the path of converged information retrieval via mobiles.

 

Mobot claims to have Mobile Visual Search, which is a ….

Basically, a consumer can see a picture in a magazine or on a poster take a photo of it with their mobile and the service will then recognise what they are taking a picture of and return a list of services associated with that picture. One example they give is seeing a picture of a new music album in the magazine and the service redirects you to listen to some parts of the music tracks, buy a ring-tone or even purchase the album directly. Mobot’s demonstration on their site shows even more examples.

 

Whilst this service sounds good on paper, the real challenge is setting a usability around these types of services that users easily understand how to use them.

 

Combining this technology with location based services would be more gratifying for both the users and the marketing company in the long run.  

 

Technorati Tags – mobile – convergence – mobile marketing