Scanbuy announced today that it intends to make the specifications for the EZcode 2D symbology globally available to the public. Over the coming weeks, Scanbuy will publish the specifications for EZcode encoding and decoding to give software developers, campaign managers and code publishers worldwide the ability to utilize EZcodes which have quickly become one of the dominant mobile barcode formats worldwide.
Originally developed by ETH Zurich, Scanbuy holds the exclusive rights to the EZcode technology. It was developed specifically for use with mobile devices and is being widely deployed in Europe, North America, Latin America and some Asian markets. Hundreds of millions of EZcodes have been published because the mobile optimized code format can be read at a smaller physical size, provides the best performance under challenging conditions and can be decoded by the most camera phones on the market today. These factors typically make the EZcode the preferred choice for marketers, media providers, mobile operators, and handset manufacturers.
"Because EZcodes have quickly become a major force in the growth of mobile marketing, we believe it is now time to make this technology an open standard that everyone can use and benefit from," said Jonathan Bulkeley, Chief Executive Officer of Scanbuy. "Scanbuy has always worked to grow and develop the worldwide 2D barcode ecosystem and today’s announcement shows our commitment to creating a vibrant and open global marketplace"
Scanbuy’s mobile barcode solutions also support Datamatrix, QR codes, and 1D formats (UPC, EAN, etc.). Scanbuy has partnerships with major wireless operators including America Movil, Sprint, Telefonica, Telecom Italia, Telenor, and Vodafone, and with most handset manufacturers including LG and Samsung. The ScanLife handset application has already been pre-loaded on millions of phones around the world.
I strongly believe having the EZcode open would explode the number of handsets that support barcode scanning especially since they can be scanned so easily from lower resolution handsets that still make up a major chunk of the market.
Get the Press Release here.
They had to do this to keep their company alive. All of the mobile carriers are moving toward open standards. See Neustar PR. Scanbuy originally wanted a closed system. Based on what 3 companies are working toward leaves Scanbuy/Scanlife out of the mix. Not to mention Neomedia's infringement hearing 4/3/09 @ 11 am.
ReplyDeleteIt looks to me like the NeuStar announcement shook up Scanbuy and they now find themselves on the outside looking in with regards to NeuStar, NeoMedia and the barcode registry / clearing house. I believe this is a desperate attempt to win back support from the OMA and GSMA. Hopefully it is only a matter of time before they pony up to the settlement table and license NeoMedia's patents.
ReplyDeleteScanbuy´s core solution 2D barcode, which it calls “EZcode”, and its code generator (encoder) and decoder application which it calls “Scanlife”, are available for free on the Internet under the name their original creator gave them, Visual Codes. It is not a Scanbuy proprietary solution. It was not developed by Scanbuy, and it is not Scanbuy´s exclusive software. The real name of this 2D code and project is Visual Codes. The complete project source code (decoder and encoder) is available for free download on the Internet. This project is still being updated by its authors, university students Beat Gfeller and Michael Rohs.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vs.inf.ethz.ch/res/proj/visualcodes/
http://www.vs.inf.ethz.ch/res/show.html?what=visualcodes
:-)
I posted a comment in regards to this article to clear the air and point out fact. Your view is bias. Your readers should know it.
ReplyDeleteSo much for free speech. Protect your rights and let your own voice be heard.
The truth will come out.