Nokia Beta Labs, Shaping the future together

I think it would be great to have the Barcode reader actually read standard UPC barcodes on productsand give users the option to connect to internet to find information on 1) product pricing 2) product information 3) alternative products. If necessary Nokia could partner with Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc... to provide the backend search and other features. This could generate revenue by having advertisers (product manufacturers) pay for having the products added to a database of information. Advertisers would NOT be allowed to control content, only their product information etc...
This would be great for shopping as it would allow people to quickly scan a product on the store shelf and find out more information (which is often contained inside the packaging) that they might need to know about (product reliability, product reviews, etc...). Seems like the fact that Nokia has the Barcode reader built in is a big advantage over some other phones that don't.

If you would like to decode 1D product barcodes on Nokia phones you can use ZebraScan.
You can download the latest version at http://www.annotatio.de

It follows the idea that you mentioned above. ZebraScan will let you connect to a mobile portal that will resolve the product name and provide links to Google and Amazon (especially useful for book reviews).

As the developer of ZebraScan I believe in giving users the most freedom by providing fast access to relevant Google search resuls. For most products, reviews and price comparisions are easily available to be read directly at the store before you buy.

Thanks utopalex. Sounds pretty cool. I'll have to check it out.

mbrett
N95 8Gb (Product Code: 0558787 (UK)) FW 31.0.018

tried zebra scan lol, prob not th best of bar code scanners. doesnt work properly at all. wouldnt scan most barcodes. wat it did do though was display random numbers every so often. Quickmark is alot better but for it to work properly u have to pay.

utopalex thanks. I downloaded latest version as of 05/15/2009 and it is working on my Nokia E71. Excellent tool. Hope you are able to take them and extend it. I would think this would be an excellent app for someone to hook into internert and really offer many options (i.e. find lowest price, find at store near you, find accessories, etc...). I have just heard Google is planning on doing something like this for Android, but no reason why it can be done for other phones. Keep up the good work.
Jeff