GSMA & OMA To Drive Mobile Code Standards

NeoMedia Technologies, the global leader in camera-initiated transactions for mobile devices, and Gavitec AG - mobile digit, both co-founders of the Mobile Codes Consortium (MC2), today announced that the MC2 steering group has convinced the GSM Association (GSMA) and the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), two of the global mobile phone industry's representative bodies, to drive the global adoption of mobile marketing using 2D barcodes.

MC2, the cross-industry group created to promote unified standards in camera cell-phone barcode reading technology, has brought large-scale adoption of mobile marketing closer to reality. The members of the group, NeoMedia Technologies Inc., Publicis Groupe, Hewlett-Packard, Deutsche Telekom, KPN, Nokia, Qualcomm and Telefonica O2 Europe, have convinced the representatives of the GSMA and OMA that the time has come to cooperate globally and advance the mobile barcodes standards in partnership.

Dr. Frank Müller, Director of Intellectual Property and Strategy at NeoMedia Technologies, said: "The commitment of GSMA and OMA gives important impetus for the worldwide development of mobile marketing based on using 2D barcodes. The barcode reading technology, enabling people with mobile phones to read mobile codes and immediately connect to content and services, makes the mobile Internet much more accessible for consumers and likewise offers advertisers various opportunities for innovative, well-directed and cost-effective marketing approaches with precise response evaluation."

William "Chip" Hoffman, CEO of NeoMedia Technologies, said: "We are creating the mobile equivalent of 'hyper-text' for broadcast and print media. Like SMS, a standard technology used by all carriers world-wide, mobile barcodes allow Brands and Consumers to interact on static media the same way they do on the web; cross-country and cross-carrier. With this wireless technology and the associated systems supporting it, old-media becomes new-media."

This month, the GSMA, the global trade association representing 700 GSM mobile phone operators, and OMA, the leading industry forum for developing market driven, interoperable mobile service enablers, will launch a landmark exercise, which aims to deliver technology and marketing industry standards for mobile codes. Whereas the GSMA is starting to encourage mobile operators to adopt interoperable business models for mobile codes and raise the profile of this technology within the industry, the OMA will work simultaneously to specify the technical standards.

After just nine months of lobbying, plan development and recruitment, the partners of the MC2 have achieved a fundamental milestone and base for further operations. Now that the leading industry bodies are on board and support the standards for mobile barcodes, the MC2 will signal to the marketing industry that it can start planning now about how it will deploy them. Mobile marketing and mobile tagging are now becoming a true reality worldwide and the industry should be prepared for it.

By embracing open standards, full interoperability, and by being barcode symbology agnostic, NeoMedia Technologies provides a global infrastructure to insure that all transactions requested by end users "work" as intended, all parties are compensated correctly, and that the technology achieves mass-adaptation. In doing so, NeoMedia enables a seamless, secure, and utilitarian platform for mobile commerce, advertising, and communication. NeoMedia's mission is to offer new ways to make mobile internet transactions effortless and more accessible while enhancing customer convenience, facilitating a closer customer relationship, saving costs and providing new business opportunities for all participants in the wireless value chain.