Mobile Groove

The positive response to my earlier recap of barcode milestones and reprint of my exclusive interview with Scanbuy, a major player in the space,

Mobile 2D barcode scanning is paving the way for a range of exciting and lucrative schemes hyperlinking our physical world of things (all objects including product packaging, printed media, TV, billboards, equipment – the works!) with a digital world or websites and destinations filled with information, advertising, applications downloads, coupons, processes and special offers.

The last weeks have seen a slew of announcements in this space, heralding a new phase in market development, new thinking about the business models (particularly the value to the enterprise) and new urgency in the race among companies across the emerging business ecosystem to get barcode strategies in place – fast (!).

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Regular readers will know that a high point of my year is collaborating with the Netsize team to collect the information, ideas and insights from industry authorities and +25 c-level execs that make the Netsize Guide the industry’s number one reference work. This year is no exception. To the contrary, I’m proud to report the Netsize Guide 2010 – the 9th Edition of the Netsize almanac– is widely regarded as the best edition ever (!).

One reason for the heightened interest could be the sharp focus on the future of mobile and mobility. The Netsize Guide, aptly titled Mobile Renaissance, pushes the boundaries and examines the

It’s that time of the year again! This year marks the third consecutive year that I have been commissioned by Netsize, a global mobile commerce and communications enabler, to write the Netsize Guide. This comprehensive mobile industry almanac recounts the year’s milestones in mobile and looks ahead to the future of mobile. A special focus this year is the impact of mobile on verticals such as healthcare and retails and the outlook (supplemented by interviews with GeoVector CEO John Ellenby and Layar Co-Founder Maarten Lens-FitzGerald).

I’m thrilled with the variety and caliber of this year’s interviews.

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Back as promised with an exclusive podcast to connect the dots in the recent raft of announcements and get the inside track on Scanbuy strategy. Indeed, there are a lot of open questions since Scanbuy, a leader in mobile marketing solutions based on barcodes, surprised the industry in early April with the decision to make the specs for the company’s proprietary EZcode 2D barcode symbology “globally available.” What does this really mean and what structures will Scanbuy put in place to see this through?

These are just a few of the questions I explore with Jonathan Bulkeley, Scanbuy CEO. (Personal thanks to David Javitch, Scanbuy VP of Marketing, for streamlining my request and arranging the podcast, the first such in-depth interview since the announcement.)

To fully understand the significance of Scanbuy’s decision, it’s important to review the events and announcements that have effectively dealt companies up and down the mobile barcode business ecosystem (Scanbuy included) a new hand of cards.

First came the decision in February by the United States Patent and Trademark Office to re-examine the patent claims filed by NeoMedia Technologies, a provider of barcode scanning solutions. The move prompted NeoMedia to push forward in March on a patent licensing program and tie up with other vendors (3GVision, Mobile Discovery, Mobile Tag, and NeuStar) in a pilot program based on open standards in a bid to show interoperability between the technologies out there and – more importantly – position NeuStar, a short code registry, as a central clearinghouse in the middle. More about this model and Jonathan’s own take in the podcast.

Behind the scenes, sparks continue to fly, prompted by the MSG exclusive interview with Jonathan Bulkeley, Scanbuy CEO. His only formal response to a recent and controversial CTIA white paper — work-in-progress that outlines the ecosystem and infrastructure needed to make 2D barcodes a viable business – counts 8 11 in-depth comments from industry insiders and executives. It will take a few design tweaks before comments feature on the MSG home page, but the debate is too good to miss. Check out the discussion here and the post that started it all here.