A new iPhone application allows you to find detailed information on any product simply by taking a picture of it. With the SnapTell Explorer application, you can take a picture of a book—and within seconds the screen will display the right book with reviews, links to other Web sites (including a Wikipedia entry), and online prices from multiple retailers. Welcome to the future of shopping.
How does it work? According to SnapTell, “SnapTell has created core patent pending proprietary technology for image matching that works with databases of millions of images. This highly accurate and robust algorithm for image matching is called Accumulated Signed Gradient (ASG). Our technology works effectively on pictures taken with any camera phone in the world, including ones that have VGA cameras or relatively low resolution (320×240) cameras. Also, our robust matching engine can handle pictures taken in real life conditions that may have lighting artifacts, focus/motion blur, perspective distortion, and partial coverage. The technology works in a wide variety of real life scenarios including print advertisements, outdoor billboards, brand logos, product packaging, branded cans, bottles, and wine labels.”
Regardless of the underlying technology, there is no doubt that this adds many new and fascinating layers both to marketing and the in-store retail experience. How are stores going to compete when every customer can walk over to a manager and prove that they can get the exact same product for cheaper somewhere else? How are stores going to change what they stock and the types of brands they sell? Customers are going to be so empowered with information and reviews that it’s going to be very hard to carry items that no one likes. This app could become even more powerful when the iPhone’s GPS capabilities kick in. SnapTell will be able to show consumers varying prices for the exact same product within walking distance.
The SnapTell Explorer iPhone app might be one of the most powerful indications of how customers are really going to control the shopping experience going forward… and we’re just beginning to scratch the surface.
