Imagine you are browsing through a store looking at the latest HDTVs. Now you have done your homework checking out CNET and Amazon
to get expert and other consumer opinions, so you have a reasonable idea what you should be paying for a product. But the sales guy then talks to you and introduces you to another product, one which is even better than the one you have been researching for only a small price premium.

So you need to go back to the consumer opinion sites and then skip over to to check up on the product before you purchase. Although your laptop has wireless internet access, you don’t have it in the car. What you really wish that you could all be done from your mobile phone?

Well thanks to Scanbuy, you can do all this by simply scanning the bar code of the product you are considering buying. It then automatically connects you to price information on pricegrabber.com and consumer reviews on Amazon, and additional product information. Check it out at http://scanbuy.com/website/products_shopper.htm

And soon a service could be provided that tells you which other stores in your area offer the same product at a lower price.

In Japan and Korea, consumers point their camera phones at 2D barcodes to access mobile content. For example, movie trailer clips might be attached to a bus poster via this 2D code as in the picture below. 2D barcodes can be found on city guides, maps, billboards, advertising, stores displays.