The World is Watching: Image Mobile Search Gets Ready For Primetime

location based services

The concept of pairing camera-enabled mobile phones with mobile search to create a visual Google of the world around us is gaining traction, according to this blog post. An example is Camera Search! – a mobile marketing service developed by Bandai, a Japanese maker of toy, game and entertainment products, and D2C, a mobile marketing agency. In a nutshell, the service allows users to find and purchase content by capturing advertising for it with their cameraphones (this advertising can come from labels, CD covers, magazines, billboards, etc...) Satisfied with the uptake of image search to date the companies announced this week they will extend the Camera Search! scheme to promote mobile content around Crayon Shin-Chan, a popular Japanese cartoon. To download a free wallpaper users have to snap any scene in the opening credits of the cartoon on TV and send it to the service. The server then makes the match and delivers the content to users’ mobile phones.
Mobile operators outside of Japan have yet to tap into image search services – let alone link them with mobile content sales schemes. But that doesn’t mean image search doesn’t have a top-notch spot in the mobile search mix. To the contrary, more companies are joining the snap-and-search bandwagon (and let’s not forget Google’s recent acquisition of image search provider Neven Vision.) Perhaps the most original twist on image search comes from GeoVector, a U.S. provider of location-based services. It has quietly and cleverly added 3D capabilities to image search, creating a service (currently available in Japan - but slated to launch in the U.S. when GPS-enabled handsets are more the norm) that not only finds and identifies buildings, but allows objects inside to be visible to users standing outside. Users don’t take pictures to search; they point their phones in the general direction of objects and offers to access information and the phone’s built-in GPS and compass capabilities make the connection. Peter Ellenby, GeoVector’s Director of New Media, told me he envisions adding mobile commerce to the mix soon. “With this service the world will become a giant interactive Post-It note.” Users would then be able to point their phone in a direction and see the shops and destinations in that area that accept a particular credit card. Likewise, users could also see special offers, commercials and related content for sale.