Scan the barcode and win with your camera phone
Camera phones are taking mobile marketing a step ahead. Text & win will soon become history now that competition can be run inviting people to scan a barcode with their camera phone and send it as MMS to a special number.
In the UK, The Times is currently running such an initiative in cooperation with Hewlett-Packard. For now, this is just a test but, as New Media Age reports, the level of effort to enter the competition very low, should the idea should appeal a lot of consumers.
Actually, the level of effort very low only if you’ve already downloaded the right application to do it, which is Active Print which only works on Symbian Series 60 phones.
I know a company in Spain with the technology to do the same thing (bar scanning with the mobile). But, as you mention, is that to participate you need to download some software. This element alone is enough to make it not a killer-app, because most people won’t download it. The great advantage of the SMS is that anyone can do it, without downloading or learning anything.
I have first hand experience with this techology (My company has developed this in the US) and it IS a killer app. The service providers will place this on every phone within 2 years. Downloads are simple and can be requested by SMS.