GS1, the supply chain standards organisation, manages the system of product bar codes used by over one million companies on billions of products across the world. So it got together with the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) and Icare, the Swiss Research Institute, to put bar codes through their paces for brands and retailers.
Seen through Google Glass, bar codes can provide trusted product information such as nutritional content and recipes, which can then be adapted to personalised preferences, special offers, consumer reviews - all of which may be shared on social media websites.
“Consumer’s today are using mobile devices to access instant product information from various online sources. The next generation of bar code scanning is a key driver for consumers to access this information on demand and a tool for media owners to engage more effectively with users. Our demonstration using Google Glass is an innovative way for retailers, manufacturers and mobile solution providers to imagine the future and the way we share information on mobile devices," said Maria Palazzolo, chief executive officer at GS1 Australia.
“If we can inspire the mobile ecosystem to see the possibilities for implementing the specifications we are developing, then this will be an exciting proposition for consumers. We would like one day to see these as library components on all Android and IOS devices."
GS1 and the OMA, a leading mobile standards organisation, have been collaborating since 2011 to enable bar code scanning features to be built directly into mobile devices using existing standards. By the end of 2014, application developers will be able to integrate barcode scanning features and link to trusted product information in their apps.
Gary K. Jones, chairman of the OMA board explained: “GS1 and OMA standards are critical in enabling this vision of the connected consumer of the future, whose shopping trip and product usage are augmented with trusted information and services. With our knowledge of the mobile industry we have been able to collaborate with GS1 to develop a specification that will allow innovation for the mCommerce and mobile advertising industry and will ultimately benefit consumers through a new generation of more intuitive applications."
