Mobile barcodes appear to be about to go conventional with Nokia and Sony Ericsson pre-installing barcode readers on most of their handsets. Barcodes in mobile are commonly used to recover web content. For instance, a barcode on a poster can be scanned and used to reacquire a web page where the user can win a prize. At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Virginia-based Neustar revealed the first clearinghouse for barcodes, which helps barcodes from any advertiser or brand to be associated to web content without support of the barcode reader or service provider.
1D barcodes are very popular and these codes on products are scanned at a supermarket checkout. 1D barcode can carry only limited amount of data. 2D barcodes are more robust and can carry much higher density of information. 2D barcodes are used in mobile applications. Mainly, a scanned barcode is utilized to restore a web page. Barcodes can be installed in any kind of printed material like product packaging, print advertising, posters and even web sites. A camera phone will also display a barcode, which makes a reader to recognize it.
There are multiple applications for 2D barcodes. Advertising and marketing is more popular among them. Advertisers like barcodes as they are opt-in and the user selects to recover the brand information and moreover barcodes can be easily tracked. Pepsi installed 400 million 2D barcodes on products in UK . These codes are also frequently used in supply chain and logistics management.
Barcodes displayed through mobile phones are practically used in ticketing operations like public transport in the Philippines or loyalty programs in inventory like DIY retailer Hornbach in Germany. In South America, Telefonica is utilizing barcodes to get access to telecommunications services like mobile package updates. Barcodes on a phone are also used to confirm the parties regarding mobile money transfers.