»  Phillip Atchison

After reading a recent article in The Times about Google Goggles, I was struck by how rapidly the world of digital shopper marketing is evolving. Google Goggles is a mobile app that uses image-recognition software to decipher landmarks, text, book and DVD covers, artwork, logos, bar codes, wine labels. etc.

Comparison shopping has never been easier, now that you can snap a quick pic of a book’s cover while in store and almost instantly check the price and reviews on Amazon, but the mind races to fathom all the opportunities a good image recognition app could offer a retailer or consumer brand. Here are a couple:

• Massively successful European billboard advertiser JCDecaux is launching an image recognition iPhone app called U snap. Users can take pictures of JCDecaux posters and billboards – which the app will recognize, and provide access to extra content. Several major brands including Orange and Lancome have already signed on, and the app is planned for Android and Windows launches as well.

• Amazon Mobile includes the “Amazon Remembers” feature, which allows you to take a picture of any product, and (using the Mechanical Turk service identify the product and put it in your wish list. This isn’t real-time yet, but several product categories (movies and books) are already automated.

• Layar is one of many popular augmented-reality apps on the AppStore which allow you to see the iPhone’s camera output in real-time, with supplemental data overlaid on it. For example, take a picture of street you’re walking down to see what stores lie ahead.

If you want to read more, here's a link to the article