Vision Smarts Releases Free pic2shop 3.0

Vision Smarts has announced pic2shop 3.0, a major update to their free comparison shopping utility for iPhone devices. Designed specifically to take advantage of the iPhone's unique capabilities and touch interface, pic2shop is a state-of-the-art barcode scanner for the on-the-go shopper. Even on iPhone models without an autofocus camera. iPhone developers will appreciate pic2shop's ability to be slaved from another iPhone app, or website.

UPCs and EANs are the traditional barcodes found on virtually all retail products, from books to cereal boxes. With pic2shop's unique combination of image processing algorithms and machine learning techniques, makes it as easy as aiming the camera at a barcode. Instantly make a purchase in the store, or buy online, all in real time. The whole process takes only a few seconds.

Offering a natural and easy-to-use interface, with pic2shop shoppers can quickly access online product information to make informed purchase decisions, online reviews for books, DVDs, games, electronics, and more. Shoppers can even choose to buy a used item for greater savings and to help the environment. For added convenience, users can email their list of scanned products to family and friends or to review them later from the comfort of their desk.


Among pic2shop's most prolific features is its ability to allow any other iPhone app, or website to use it as an external scanner. Taking advantage of the iPhone's custom URL scheme, any app or web page can launch pic2shop, have the user scan a barcode, and then pass the barcode back to the calling web page or app. Vision Smarts has made a web page specific for developers available on their website. There is a complete Xcode project that shows how to implement this mechanism in a just few lines of code.

Feature Highlights:
* Comfortable and simple User Interface
* Takes only a few seconds
* Compare prices and decide whether to purchase in-store, or to buy online, all in real time
* Allows other iPhone apps and web apps to use pic2shop as a free barcode scanner

"When we set out to develop pic2shop, most people thought it was impossible to read barcodes on the iPhone 3G," said Benoit Maison, founder of Vision Smarts. "We have come a long way since then, by making pic2shop faster and easier to use, and with hundreds of thousands of people now using it for mobile comparison shopping. I am particularly excited that this new version enables all developers to build barcode-based apps, at no extra cost. Our objective is to make pic2shop the standard barcode scanner on the iPhone."

Pricing and Availability:
Version 3.0 has a completely redesigned user interface and a faster barcode scanner. pic2shop 3.0 is completely free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Productivity category. Currently, product search returns results from retailers located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium. A major effort is under way to support more countries and more retailers.


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