Our idea is to start listing the inventory on the retailer results page. Currently we only show it on the store location results page. What do you think? Will this help?

Snappr is now part of ShopSavvy

Techcrunch got the scoop before I had a chance to post.  Founded in August 2007, Snappr was a pioneer in the 2D barcode business. The goal was to provide a platform to easily create, manage and access mobile content and to promote this content in exciting, new ways. If you are like me, one of the first barcode scanning applications you downloaded was Snappr (it is still on my phone to this day). Snappr was the first iPhone application capable of scanning a 2D barcode. The ShopSavvy team has been busy incorporating Snappr’s technology into ShopSavvy.

Philip Stehlik, founder and CEO of Snappr, will join ShopSavvy’s board of advisors. Philip, founder and CEO of Snappr, is a pioneer in the mobile barcode business. Snappr took the concept and the technology of QR Codes and packaged it into an easy to use webservice and mobile application where both, the content owner and the accessing end-user have real benefits from using the Codes and the mobile content behind them. Snappr was one of the first services in the US and Europe to provide a well rounded solution leveraging QR Codes to access mobile content. Prior to founding Snappr he acted as senior developer and project lead at ReadSoft US where he implemented ReadSoft’s SAP solutions at major US corporations like Apple or Boehringer Ingelheim. Philip began his career at Ebydos AG in Frankfurt Germany, where he was responsible for major product implementations at companies like John Deere, REHAU and Schneider Electric.

The Snappr acquisition has been instrumental in our QR Code program.

The adoption of two-dimensional barcodes in marketing and advertising has been hampered by proprietary standards. Too many companies have spent too much time attempting to monetize a very simple, but powerful feature. Ironically, there has always been an alternative, open standard called a Quick Response or QR Code. Anyone can generate a two-dimensional QR Code pointing to any website for free. Additionally, millions of mobile phone users already have QR Code capable readers like ShopSavvy®.

The biggest problem with QR Codes is that American consumers don’t know what a 2D barcode is. They need some help understanding how to react to a QR Code printed on a billboard or in a magazine advertisement. Our ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ program was designed to solve this problem. Millions of ShopSavvy users already use the application to scan 1D barcodes, but many of them have no idea that ShopSavvy will scan open standard 2D barcodes (i.e. QR Code), but they do understand the concept of scanning.

Our ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ program allows brands to leverage our ‘trained’ user base by including our ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ badge anywhere they print a 2D barcode. Consumers can use ANY QR-capable scanner (50+ today), but the program attempts to short circuit the call to action by showing the user he can use an application he already has on his smartphone.

The program is free for almost all brands. Our goal is to promote QR Codes, ShopSavvy and build great relationships with brands. Interested? Brands simply need to email sales@biggu.com and explain the planned usage of our badge prior to use. Permission will be granted to almost all brands. Camera-ready art of the badge is available for download:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/109866/scanwithshopsavvy.zip

Basic tracking is included for FREE as part of the QR code generator and includes:

• Total click tracking
• Click tracking (today, past week, past month, total)
• Referrer tracking (today, past week, past month, total)
• Location tracking (today, past week, past month, total)
• Conversation tracking (number of tweets, shares, comments)

Enhanced programs area available including geo-targeted content. Use the consumers location as a trigger for alternative content. Show a user in a specific store or city a different experience. Please contact our sales department for more information.

If you are interested please complete the following and email to sales@biggu.com:

• Name of Company:
• Address of Company:
• Name of Company Representative:
• Email of Representative:
• Phone of Representative:
• Name of App:
• Platform(s):
• Description of App:
• Source Data Description/Sample:
• Result Data Description/Sample:

Our current platform supports Android and iPhone 3GS (and slow 2G/3G scanning). Our next release should support Android, iPhone 2G/3G/3GS, Windows Mobile and Blackberry. Here is an example of the branding inside the scanning library:

The simple answer is, “I hope not.”  Google and Amazon are NOT the sort of competitors a startup should take lightly, but I do think their (repeated) entrance into our space is good news. We really stumbled onto something when we our app first won Google’s Android Developer Challenge and (obviously) they didn’t over look this fact.

100% of our focus is on making ShopSavvy the BEST shopping application on the market. Our goals are simple:

1. No. 1 INFORM the user
2. No. 2 EMPOWER the user
3. No. 3 INSPIRE the user

We have been doing No. 1 for about 18 months. We are just about to offer No. 2 with our payments integration. Finally, we hope to complete No. 3 by the end of the second quarter. Earlier this month I wrote about focusing on what your competitors are doing in a post titled, “Negative Target Acquisition“. We will keep trying to make ShopSavvy the BEST shopping application on the market. Ironically, Google’s new app has DRAMATICALLY increased our download volume. We are adding new users at a level we have NEVER seen before. Google’s PR effort is amazing, but interestingly my Google Alert’s for ‘ShopSavvy’ have been going off every hour as a new stories mentions both Google’s new app AND ShopSavvy. It is insane. So, I just wanted to thank Google for all the PR. We will continue to attempt to innovate and users will decide the ultimate winner(s).

The biggest problem with QR Codes is that American consumers don’t know what a 2D barcode is. They need some help understanding how to react to a QR Code printed on a billboard or in a magazine advertisement. Our ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ program was designed to solve this problem. Millions of ShopSavvy users already use the application to scan 1D barcodes, but many of them have no idea that ShopSavvy will scan open standard 2D barcodes (i.e. QR Code), but they do understand the concept of scanning.

Our ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ program allows brands to leverage our ‘trained’ user base by including our ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ badge anywhere they print a 2D barcode. Consumers can use ANY QR-capable scanner (50+ today), but the program attempts to short circuit the call to action by showing the user he can use an application he already has on his smartphone.

The program is free for almost all brands. Our goal is to promote QR Codes, ShopSavvy and build great relationships with brands. Interested? Brands simply need to email sales@biggu.com and explain the planned usage of our badge prior to use. Permission will be granted to almost all brands. Camera-ready art of the badge is available for download:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/109866/scanwithshopsavvy.zip

Basic tracking is included for FREE as part of the QR code generator and includes:

• Total click tracking
• Click tracking (today, past week, past month, total)
• Referrer tracking (today, past week, past month, total)
• Location tracking (today, past week, past month, total)
• Conversation tracking (number of tweets, shares, comments)

Enhanced programs area available including geo-targeted content. Use the consumers location as a trigger for alternative content. Show a user in a specific store or city a different experience. Please contact our sales department for more information.

• Android (Tattoo, Lancaster – i.e. non-AF cameras) – April 2010
• iPhone (2G/3G – i.e. non-AF cameras) – March 2010
• Windows Mobile – May 2010
• Blackberry – May 2010
• PalmOS – June 2010

Based on our current workload and staff these dates seem reasonable. Of course, our iPhone version took us almost three months longer than we expected (and we still don’t have the 2G/3G working well).  We get LOTS of emails each day, hopefully this update will help.

I think we are now on our 3.6 version of ShopSavvy for Android and it seems as though about 1% of users have the ‘force close’ issue.  For most a simple uninstall, reinstall and reboot solves everything.  For some of you this doesn’t work. Again, we have never been able to repeat this force close issue (and we have a LOT of Android phones).  If you can go to the Android market and download the Log Collector App and then run ShopSavvy the app will collect the crash report.  Get ShopSavvy to crash a couple of times and then open the Log Collector App and email the results to support@biggu.com.

In both cases users that send us a crash report with a ShopSavvy issue will get a ShopSavvy t-shirt and associated schwag.  Just send us your address and shirt size.

• product reviews
• product videos
• wishlists
• price alerts
• side-by-side product comparison
• product news
• maps and store contact details

This rich experience isn’t possible on the small screen size found on the iPhone and Android smartphones – but fits easily on Apple’s new iPad.  While the iPad doesn’t come with a built-in camera, it does have a slot that can be used for an aftermarket web camera that ShopSavvy can exploit for scanning barcodes.  While running ShopSavvy the iPad treats the user’s iPhone or Android device as a barcode scanning peripheral.  Fire up ShopSavvy on your iPhone (or any smartphone running ShopSavvy), scan a barcode and the results show up on your iPad.  Users can now use ShopSavvy as a tool for compiling lists of products including: groceries – i.e. to build a grocery list, books – i.e. to build an index of books, dvds – i.e. to build an index of your dvds and so on.

Here is the full release:

Big in Japan, a Dallas-based idea factory for mobile applications, announced today that it will release a native version of ShopSavvy for the Apple iPad. The iPad version of ShopSavvy will retain all the features the application’s millions of users have grown to love, while incorporating new functionality to enhance the shopping experience.

ShopSavvy is a barcode-scanning mobile application that enables users to comparison shop on the go.

After downloading ShopSavvy for iPad, we anticipate that many cost-conscious consumers will carry the tablet with them as a constant shopping companion

“The iPad enables ShopSavvy to really spread its wings as an application for users who want the power, ease of use and size of this touchscreen tablet,” said Alexander Muse, co-founder of Big in Japan. “After downloading ShopSavvy for iPad, we anticipate that many cost-conscious consumers will carry the tablet with them as a constant shopping companion.”

ShopSavvy for iPad will extend the application’s price-comparison focus with new capabilities, including video product reviews, side-by-side comparisons of scanned products, in-depth product information and other features, the company said.

Big in Japan also said that it has added the iPad as a prize option (in addition to the Google Nexus One) in the recently announced ShopSavvy video testimonial contest.

Ranking as one of the most popular apps on Android phones since its launch in September 2008, ShopSavvy became available on the iPhone in November 2009. More than 1 million ShopSavvy users scanned more than 18 million products on Black Friday weekend alone, Nov. 27-29, 2009.

ShopSavvy enables users to comparison shop on the go for more than 20 million products at more than 20,000 retailers worldwide, simply by scanning the product’s barcode using the phone’s built-in camera. Using the barcode information, ShopSavvy searches the Web for the best prices on the product, displaying the lowest prices online as well as at nearby brick-and-mortar retailers. ShopSavvy looks up product reviews to further assist with purchase decisions.

Mobile users may download ShopSavvy at one of the following links:

ShopSavvy for iPhone: bit.ly/shopsavvyiphone
ShopSavvy for Android: bit.ly/shopsavvyandroid

• record a short video telling your story (2 minute max)
• make sure you show your phone running ShopSavvy at some point
• you need to be in the video (no actors)
• give us the details (your location, the store, the product, the savings)
• include your name, address and shirt size in your email)
• email to sales@biggu.com

We will select the winner from the first 100 entries (the 101st and greater entries won’t be eligible for the Nexus, but will get the schwag as supplies last).  For sending us your ShopSavvy story on video we will send you a bag of ShopSavvy schwag (i.e. t-shirt, stickers and other stuff).