At ScanLife, we are constantly developing new ways to personalize the mobile experience and make it as relevant as possible for the person scanning a QR Code.   We already have codes that change dynamically based on the operating system or the number of scans on a code, and now we are thrilled to announce our latest innovation which uses language detection.

Watch the video below to see it in action:

This dynamic QR Code action detects the language setting of the user’s device to deliver content that is unique to that language. There are two obvious scenarios for this kind of technology:

1. A marketer or publisher has content in 2-3 languages within a specific diverse country (like Canada or the US) and now they can run a single code that automatically delivers the right content.
2. A marketer is running a campaign across multiple countries (like Europe) and now the same code can deliver any number of experiences based on the native language of the user

Now ScanLife offers a simple way to connect to a diverse customer base with no additional programming:

• Choose from 12 different languages
• Offer up to 6 different experiences
• Based on settings from the device, regardless of location
• Works with any app around the world

If you’d like to learn more about Language Detection or to discuss other ways for smarter mobile engagement, please contact us at info@scanlife.com

The all new ScanLife 4.3 is now available for iOS which gives you over 20 themes to make your barcode scanner cooler, prettier, and more personalized than ever.  We added everything you would want to fit your style.

Dreaming of the beach?  We have a cool summer theme – palm trees included.  If you’re more of a sports nut we have an entire pack dedicated to baseball, basketball, american and non-american football, and more.  Or if you are just a nature lover, we have some nice soothing images of daisies and stylized butterflies!

Some of the theme packs will run you 99 cents for a set of 5 or 6 which you can buy with your iTunes account.  But, we have plenty of new free themes as well including one of our faves called Vibration (featured below in blue).

Let us know if you have any great ideas for new themes in the future, and maybe we will include them in an upcoming release.

Get the latest version from the app store now and please leave us a 5-star awesome review!

Well, the big iPhone 5 announcement has been made and now millions debate if and when they will get the latest gadget from Apple.  At ScanLife, we are extremely excited for the release of the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 for many obvious reasons.  Of all the new features, the one we are most thrilled about is Passbook.  We believe it’s the best thing that could happen for the mobile barcode industry because it will continue to expose this technology to millions of people around the world.

If you are not familiar with Passbook, here’s a quick recap from what we can tell:

• It has wallet-like features that store some of the most important items in our lives, including boarding passes, loyalty cards, coupons, event tickets, and more.
• Basically, anything that typically has a barcode could load into Passbook.  A Safari web page or an app can enable the Pass Kit Framework that would allow any device with iOS 6 to save redeemable information.
• For example, you could buy a ticket from American Airlines, and at the end of the transaction they could prompt iOS 6 users to save the boarding pass to Passbook.  Or, the Target app can send a coupon to Passbook and remind you when you are about to walk in their store using your location.
• In most cases, this information will be passed in the form of a barcode – the code formats available are QR Code, PDF-417, and Aztec – all code formats that are readable by the most common standards
• Passbook does NOT include a barcode scanner – so people will still need to download apps like ScanLife
• It will be available to anyone that has iOS 6 – extending beyond the iPhone 5

So what does this all really mean?  To us, it means that Apple has reaffirmed that the barcode is completely mainstream today as it’s simple to use for millions of people around the world.  Apple’s SVP Phil Schiller was quoted as saying, “Passbook does the kinds of things customers need today.” Barcodes are simple, they don’t require new hardware, and people are familiar with how they work.

The release of this new framework, also opens new doors for advanced services that barcodes enable, such as mCommerce, mPayments, and mIdentity, and more. When Apple included Twitter in their native OS, they reported that new Twitter accounts increased by 25% per month!  Given the massive number of iOS users, we expect mobile barcode awareness to increase sharply in the coming months which will drive even greater innovation and adoption of the technology by brands, developers, and consumers alike.

Thank you Apple!  What do you all think?

It’s always encouraging to see reports showing strong growth in physical to mobile engagement, but what we have seen in the past few months is especially exciting.  That’s because not one, but four separate reports have been published recently that together paint a picture of how everything is now growing at the same pace.  Below are some of the highlights that show how both Smartphone users and marketers are bringing it all together.

Comscore – June 2012

In Comscore’s latest survey from April (published in June), nearly 20% of Smartphone users in America scanned a QR Code, up from 14% in May last year (a 43% increase).   More than two-thirds of Americans and Europeans who scan QR codes obtained information about a product, and the most popular source of scanning was product packaging (42%).   The most popular location for scanning was at home (57% of scanners).  Learn more.

Below charts from Economist:

Nielsen – May 2012

Nielsen looked at how Smartphones were used during the actual shopping experience, and they found that people relied most on their devices when more expensive purchases were being considered.  At electronics stores for example, the vast majority of Smartphone shoppers read reviews (73%), compare prices with other retail outlets (71%) and scan QR Codes to get more product details (57%).  Find out more.

Accenture – April 2012

1,000 U.S. consumers were asked whether they interacted with social media symbols while watching TV.  Amazingly, 20% engaged with Facebook, and more people scanned a QR Code than searched using a Twitter hashtag.  Most did so to get access to a deal or enter a sweepstakes.  Read more.

Econsultancy – June, 2012

Part of the reason people are scanning so much is because more and more codes are being published by marketers.  In fact, an Econsultancy survey released in June,  found that QR Codes are now the most used mobile tactic by marketers.  Agencies showed that they are more excited about apps with 54% saying their clients use them – compared to just 35% when the clients are asked.  Discover more.

To find out more about Mobile Engagement trends, discuss ideas and share best practices, check out the Exchanging Smarter Ideas on Mobile Engagement Linkedin group. Or simply visit www.scanlife.com.

We often hear that “a QR Code is just a QR Code.” While they may look the same, what happens behind the code can vary widely – and that is really where the magic happens. The value of QR Codes is vast, and one area that all marketers love is data – or business intelligence. Never before have marketers been able to get so much intelligence around how people interact in the real world from media like print ads, store displays, and even packaging.  The amount of data you can get from a QR Code varies from the basics like number of total scans, up to location heat mapping and representative demographics.

Some online code generators give you the basics, but there is a big catch – anyone can see it! This practice provides detailed intelligence to your competition, like which products or promotions are being scanned on which days, making it easier for others to learn from your success.

To illustrate, you can access the statistics of London’s Open University’s QR Code created on bit.ly: The statistics are simply accessed by going to bit.ly/rJUjnh+ in your web browser.

Like everything else, it is critical to remember to read the fine print in the Terms & Conditions when evaluating QR code generators, and even more advanced solutions. Some platforms turn the data generated by your campaign into public domain knowledge, and others will take ownership of your data for monetization purposes.

To find out more about risks of using free code generators, please download our whitepaper.

To promote the popular EURO 2012 Tournament, Coca Cola has been using ScanLife powered QR Codes on millions of packages throughout Spain. Never before has a major brand used ScanLife on a scale quite like this!

The codes are connecting users to a series of exclusive videos around the event. People can also download the ‘SmileWorld’ app, Coke’s new mobile social network. Below you can watch the TV spot that is currently running in Spain which is getting their fans to scan, and scan a lot!

“Thanks to intelligent QR Codes from the ScanLife platform we are able to constantly surprise our consumers with new content, strengthen our position in the mobile space, and understand what interests our consumers.”  said Paco Rodríguez, Digital Manager at Coca-Cola.

Read the full press release.

Additional Coverage:

• Coca-Cola adds QR Codes to soda pop cans in Spain via Internet Retailer
• Coca-Cola affirms mobile strategy with interactive QR code push via Mobile Marketer
• Coca-Cola QR Codes Drive Consumer Engagement via Consumer Goods Technology

So while you’re cheering for your favorite team, scan the Coke can below for some additional video to go along with the game!

Anticipation is building for the 2012 Summer Olympics, and it looks like fans will be gearing up with QR Codes.  This first ad ran last week in the local newspapers and links to a nifty mobile landing page where you can browse for Olympic hats, t-shirts, pins, and more – all by scanning a QR Code!  Plus you can Like on Facebook or Follow on Twitter.  They even added the Olympic logo in their code!

Try it out yourself, and get into the Olympic spirit.  We hear there is more QR Code Olympic action to come very soon…

We have just released the latest ScanLife Mobile Barcode Trend Report for Q1 2011. This edition takes a look at key trends over the past twelve months as well as some vital insight regarding market adoption from both Smartphone users and mobile marketers.

One of the highlights of the report is the fact that we processed over 5 million unique users in Q1. This is a near 200% increase from a year ago, and a million more than Q4 2011. The rise in unique users is indicative to the rapid growth of both smartphone adoption and QR Code publishing.

Total scans has shown no signs of slowing down as it continues to climb to record heights.  We saw 13 million scans processed through ScanLife in Q1 alone, a 157% increase from a year ago.

Other key takeaways from this report:

• iPhone OS made fairly significant strides with 6% growth from Q4, and now drives about equal traffic to Android OS.
• Among marketers using the ScanLife platform, the QSR (Quick Serve Restaurant) category made it into our top 5 industries for the first time ever.
• The most popular marketing campaigns are delivering video, app downloads and product details.
• Gender continues to skew towards Male, however there has been an 8% shift in the female audience compared to a year ago. Gender has remained consistent over the last two quarters.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who made these numbers possible. Mobile barcode growth and technology would not be where it is today if it wasn’t for your continued support.

This data is compiled from our platform users, app users, and other 3rd party apps/code generators.

You can download the full report here.

SXSW kicked off this week and ScanLife is going to help you fill up on Twitter Followers with your very own QR Code. With the help of Taco Bell and Viafo, we will be hosting the ScanSocial Game which starts when you scan this code with any QR Reader (we hear ScanLife is a good one…)

Here’s how it works:

1)      Scan the ScanSocial Official QR code to enter or go to http://scansocial.appspot.com/ from your mobile device.

2)      Enter your Twitter login and you will automatically get your own QR Code badge that links to your Twitter profile (thanks to world of API’s!)

3)      When people scan your code, they will be an instant follower and you start racking up points

More followers = more points = more prizes!

Daily prizes will be awarded to people in Austin with the highest number of followers and you can get bonus points by following others and tweeting from the game. Daily prizes include a package of a $20 Taco Bell gift card, a $50 cash gift cards and getting tweeted by @tacobell to 170K followers!   The Grand Prize winner with the most points for the week will win  4 tickets to the Closing Night Party at the Hype Hotel on March 17, 2012.

Daily winners will get announced from the 12th to the 17th.

The leaderboard will be updated real time so get started now, and start collecting your followers!

ScanLife 4.0, includes a couple cool new features to make barcode scanning a bit more fun for the holiday season.  One feature allows users to customize the scanner screen by selecting from themes like “Top Gun” and “Holiday Cheer”.  Just go to the Settings screen in the app to change it any time!

Current theme examples from our app:

Now we want YOU to design the next custom Scanner Theme and be seen by millions of ScanLife users around the globe!

So whether you’re a Photoshop expert or just have a knack for basic design, we want to see your ideas.   Make it fun, make it cool, make it colorful – whatever you want!  Just remember to leave some open space in the center of the screen so you can see what you’re scanning…

What do you get?

The winner will receive a $200 Gift Card and have their personal Scanner design embedded in the next release of the ScanLife app for iPhone and Android!

Rules to Enter

1. Create any kind a visual representation of your idea – can be a rough representation or a finished design, but we need more than text.
2. Upload your design to our Facebook wall – www.facebook.com/scanlife
3. Get as many Likes as you can which will influence the final judging

Entries will be taken until January 1st, 2012.

Now get creative and good luck!  If you don’t have the current ScanLife app, just go to www.getscanlife.com from your mobile device.