OMA Publishes Mobile Code White Paper

The OMA recently published a comprehensive white paper addressing important components of the mobile code ecosystem, such as different symbologies, usage scenarios, and direct versus indirect encoding,

The white paper aims to stimulate a global market in which barcodes act as enablers for camera-equipped handsets to access content and services. Some technologies already exist; for example, in Japan, 2D barcode scanning is in widespread use.

However there is fragmentation in the worldwide market currently, due to the variety of approaches to the questions of which barcode symbologies should be supported, what format of data they should contain, and how reader software should behave when barcodes are read.

The Open Mobile Alliance aims to halt fragmentation by providing guidelines on existing standards as well as creating specifications to address interoperability needs as they arise. Once enough mobile code readers that follow those guidelines are deployed on consumer handsets, marketing organizations and publishers will be able to include mobile codes as links to online content and services with confidence, in advertising and promotional campaigns, and in printed and displayed media of many kinds.

Last December the Mobile Codes Consortium (MC2) announced it had carried out initiatives which lead to GSM Association (GSMA) and Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) activities to accelerate mass mobile marketing using 2D barcodes.

Another Step Closer To Mobile Code Standards

Last December the Mobile Codes Consortium (MC2) announced it had carried out initiatives which lead to GSM Association (GSMA) and Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) activities to accelerate mass mobile marketing using 2D barcodes.

The Mobile Codes Consortium, the cross-industry group created to promote unified standards in camera cell-phone barcode reading technology, in conjunction with the GSM Association and the Open Mobile Alliance, continues to bring large scale adoption of mobile codes closer to reality.

A work item document entitled "Mobile 2D Bar codes" was created last year by the Mobile Codes Consortium and approved by the OMA Board of Directors.

The approved work item included the following recommendations: (1) Choice of 2D barcode symbologies (2) The data stored in the barcodes and (3) The terminal behaviors in response to reading barcodes, including behaviors with respect to some existing (1D and 2D) barcodes standards. Prime candidates include the industrial standards for barcode symbologies QR and Datamatrix, and the NFC Forum NDEF data structure. The normative specifications to be developed shall ensure backward compatibility with relevant 2D barcode systems, so that mobile devices that are compliant to the specifications to be developed shall be able to recognize and process such existing 2D barcode print-outs or images.

The work item also concluded that, barcode reading software needs to be included in devices supporting mobile codes, and the interface towards back-end servers also needs to be agreed.

The OMA recently published a February 2008 Technical Plenary Summary stating that a 2D barcode white paper has been completed. The summary also noted that work was about to commence on formal standards.

According to Tim Kindberg of HP Laboratories and co-chairman of the MC2, "Barcode reading technology makes it much easier for people with mobile phones to click straight from paper or displays to content and services. You just point the camera and click to connect. This will make the mobile internet much more accessible."

Thomas Curwen of Publicis Dialog and co-chairman of MC2, said: "Mobile barcodes will make advertising much more efficient. Customers clicking straight from, say a poster, to the Internet on their mobile device – will make traditional display advertising as interactive as banner ads. With the added advantage that advertisers can track and measure which ads create the highest click-through rates." Curwen added, "It is unique for an ad agency to be leading technological change on such a scale – and we are doing this because it will help make us more efficient."

The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) delivers open specifications for creating interoperable services that work across countries, operators, fixed and mobile terminals. Driven by users’ needs and the expanding market for data services, the member companies of the Open Mobile Alliance stimulate the adoption of new and enhanced information, communication and entertainment services. The Open Mobile Alliance includes contributors from all key elements of the wireless value chain, and contributes to the timely and efficient introduction of services and applications.

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.

GSMA and OMA Commit To MC2 Initiative

Mobile Codes Consortium (MC2) initiative leads to GSM Association (GSMA) and Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) activities to accelerate mass 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 group, led by global marketing agency Publicis, Hewlett-Packard, Deutsche Telekom, Gavitec, KPN, NeoMedia, Nokia, Qualcomm and Telefonica O2 Europe, has persuaded fellow members of the GSMA and OMA, two of the global mobile phone industry’s representative bodies, that the time is ripe to work in partnership to set worldwide mobile barcode standards.

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 embark on a landmark exercise, which aims to deliver technology and marketing industry standards for mobile codes. The GSMA is launching a work stream to encourage mobile operators to adopt interoperable business models for mobile codes and raise the profile of this technology within the industry, while the OMA will work simultaneously to specify the technical standards.

Tim Kindberg, of HP Laboratories and co-chairman of the MC2, said: "Barcode reading technology makes it much easier for people with mobile phones to click straight from paper or displays to content and services. You just point the camera and click to connect. This will make the mobile internet much more accessible."

Thomas Curwen, of Publicis Dialog and co-chairman of MC2, said: "Mobile barcodes will make advertising much more efficient. Customers clicking straight from, say a poster, to the Internet on their mobile device – will make traditional display advertising as interactive as banner ads. With the added advantage that advertisers can track and measure which ads create the highest click-through rates." Curwen added, "It is unique for an ad agency to be leading technological change on such a scale – and we are doing this because it will help make us more efficient."

The news follows a nine-month period of lobbying, plan development and recruitment of partners by the MC2 to make standards a reality. Now that the leading industry bodies are driving the standards for mobile barcodes, the MC2 will start alerting the marketing industry that it can start planning now about how it will deploy them. Mobile marketing is now becoming a true reality and the industry needs to be ready.

William "Chip" Hoffman, CEO of NeoMedia Technologies, said: "We are creating the mobile equivalent of the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) for mobile content. A standard technology used industry wide, which, like a Bank-card, allows the consumer-facing mark of instant access to mobile content, the bar code, to be used regardless of a subscriber’s manufacturer or service provider of choice."

The range of potential applications for mobile codes is enormous, and the impact for brands and on consumers is wide-reaching:

* For years, the ad industry has tried to work out which location or which execution of a campaign performed best in delivering leads. Phone numbers and long URLs have been tried but nothing has been very satisfactory. Mobile codes have much more to offer a marketer: the user can point and click it faster, thereby reducing the effort to respond, with dramatic effects on the results. By simply pointing the camera at a mobile code, the user instantly interacts with the marketing message. At the end of the campaign, marketers can measure "click-through rates" (by time of day, progression through to sale, and even time spent), making paper as measurable as the internet. Instantly, we can know which location or execution generated the highest response and sales.

* A possible application for a financial services client selling travel insurance might be a poster in the waiting lounge of an airport showing a matrix of ‘number of passengers’, ‘destination’ and ‘time away’. At the point of departure, the 40% of people who normally leave the UK without travel insurance, could click the corresponding mobile code and get a rough quote online, and even buy, using one of the emerging secure mobile payment systems

* Or imagine a system that can tell you when your bus is coming, without the need to build and maintain the LED screens at every bus stop (reducing cost and energy usage). A simple mobile code at each bus stop could give you the same info and even the weather forecast.

Torulf Jernstrom, of Nokia, said: "The key advantage of mobile barcodes is that it makes discovery of internet services very easy for the consumer hence a powerful tool for marketers and advertisers. A prerequisite for widespread deployment of this concept is an open, interoperable standard which is now developed in collaboration with GSMA and OMA."

Marcel Annaka of KPN said: "Mobile codes will change the way we look at printed media. Printed media will finally become personalized and interactive as Mobile codes enable an extremely user-friendly connection between offline media and the internet on mobile devices."

Thomas Curwen added, "Now that we are making real progress, we will now start work with the marketing industry to ensure that their needs are taken into consideration in the developing standards."

QUALCOMM Joins The Mobile Codes Consortium

Pressure continues to mount for industry standards as wireless industry giant QUALCOMM joins the Mobile Codes Consortium (MC2) – a cross-company group setup to promote unified standards in camera cell-phone barcode reading technology.

QUALCOMM plays a vital role in creating technologies that move the wireless industry forward, and they license these technologies to over 100 manufacturers, including virtually every leading telecom equipment and consumer electronics brand name in the world. Leveraging CDMA expertise, the company has become the leading designer and supplier of CDMA chipsets and system software. QUALCOMM's Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless™ (BREW™) provides a common platform for different types of wireless devices and applications, enabling hardware and software developers to create new products much more quickly and cost-effectively.

MC2’s aim is to accelerate the adoption of code-reading technologies that will enable users of mobile camera-phones pointed at a printed or displayed 2D barcode, to activate the phone to connect to a particular web-page, download coupons or other digital mediums, make a phone call or send a text message at the click of a button. Based on the widespread adoption of this technology in Japan and the growing popularity of camera-phones in Asia, Europe, and North America, the Mobile Codes Consortium believes that this will have many important applications for both the marketing and public communications industries.

QUALCOMM joins the original founding members Gavitec, Hewlett-Packard, NeoMedia Technologies, Publicis Groupe, Nokia, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica O2, and KPN to form MC2’s steering group, which is responsible for guiding the organization.

MC2 Meets In London During OMA World 2007

The Mobile Codes Consortium (MC2) held a meeting in London this past week during Open Mobile Alliance World 2007.

The event offers an opportunity to engage the OMA community in the successes and future direction of the organization, as well as demonstrate the commitment of the OMA to the wireless industry and to the global adoption of mobile data services. OMA World is an informational event open to all OMA members at all levels of membership. Selected invitees from the analyst and media community, as well as guests from other industry organizations are welcome to attend.

According to Torulf Jernstrom, Business Development Manager at Nokia, and Dr. Frank Mueller, Chief Strategist at Gavitec, 20 people attended the Mobile Codes Consortium meeting this past Wednesday in London and the entire initiative was looking very good.

The meeting, which included representatives from Vodafone and Orange, even included reps from Mobile Tag, which was spun off from France's leading mobile software developer Abaxia.

According to HP lab's Tim Kindberg, "The Mobile Codes Consortium is the only body seriously aimed at building a mobile codes ecosystem. It is setting the standards that others will follow. It's where Nokia -- not to mention Telefonica O2 -- is really at with mobile codes."

Nokia and Gavitec are both members of the MC2 Steering Group, along with HP Labs, Publicis Groupe, NeoMedia Technologies, Telefonica O2, Deutsche Telekom, and KPN.

Mobile Codes Consortium (MC2) Presentation

The goal of The Mobile Codes Consortium (MC2) is to create a consortium for a new mobile marketing ecosystem based around camera phones and 2D barcodes. A market-driven, open-standards approach will allow 2D barcodes to act as a catalyst in mobile internet adoption, mirroring the growth of web adoption over the last ten years. We invite others to join us on our mission to advance the widespread adoption of mobile codes, through the formation of the MC2. We are interested to hear from companies who share our core goals: to create standards to ensure interoperability, to ensure a business framework for profitable growth, and to encourage and educate the market in general.

Deutsche Telekom Joins Mobile Codes Consortium

Pressure continues to mount for industry standards as telecom giant Deutsche Telekom joins the Mobile Codes Consortium (MC2) – a cross-company group setup to promote unified standards in camera cell-phone barcode reading technology. They join the original founding members Gavitec, Hewlett-Packard, NeoMedia Technologies and Publicis Groupe, to form MC2’s steering group, which will be responsible for guiding the new organization.

Deutsche Telekom is one of the world's leading telecommunications companies represented in 50 countries around the globe. As a unit of Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile International is one of the world's leading mobile communications providers, with more than 100 million customers in Europe and the United States. They follow industry leaders Nokia, KPN and Telefónica O2 Europe who joined the Mobile Codes Consortium last month.

MC2’s aim is to accelerate the adoption of code-reading technologies that will enable users of mobile camera-phones pointed at a printed or displayed 2D barcode, to activate the phone to connect to a particular web-page, download coupons or other digital mediums, make a phone call or send a text message at the click of a button. Based on the widespread adoption of this technology in Japan and the growing popularity of camera-phones in Asia, Europe, and North America, the Mobile Codes Consortium believes that this will have many important applications for both the marketing and public communications industries.

The newly created steering group will now focus on the best approach to enable MC2 to press for widely accepted industry standards. In the first instance, this will mean guiding it until it can join an existing mobile industry body, where the group will be better able to meet its objectives of recommending business models, technology standards, and methods of making mobile code technology useful to the public and to the marketing industry.