Our mobile phones play an increasingly important part of our daily lives. Barcode scanning’s popularity has been growing as the use of smartphones increased but it has not yet taken off in South Africa. The video below takes a look at more uses for 2D barcode scanning.

In their March edition Esquire Magazine had barcodes next to each product featured in the magazine.

Image courtesy of ScanLife.com

When readers scanned the barcode a menu opened on their phone and they could choose to either buy the product or to get more information on the product. In addition, the menu also featured an option to ‘Subscribe to Esquire.’

Charities are using barcodes to encourage people to donate to their causes. ScanLife is a partner for the ‘Be The One’ campaign that aims to restore America’s Gulf Coast. ScanLife provided ‘Be The One’ with a 2D barcode that they have been using on their promotional material and t-shirts. When you scan the barcode you are taken to a .mobi site where you can sign the petition to save the Coast or you can watch videos from celebrities who are involved with the cause.

The possibilities of barcode scanning in mobile marketing are endless. Retailers can use barcode scanning to provide shoppers with more information on a specific product or restaurants can use it as part of their promotional strategy by ‘hiding’ mobile coupons in the 2D barcodes.

Apps ensure that users can customise their smartphones to such an extent that one can easily socialise on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, always be online via Skype, MSN or GTalk or work remotely – all through your smartphone. Don’t know which apps to install? Below are a few suggestions.

TripIt

Need help planning an upcoming trip? TripIt keeps all your travel plans in one spot and allows you to access your travel itinerary anywhere, anytime. You’ll never miss a flight again

Photoshop Mobile

With Photoshop Mobile you don’t have to wait to get to your desktop to edit photos, you can do it directly from your phone. Read more about the app or download it for your iPhone or Android OS smartphone.

Dropbox

This iPhone app allow users to store and access documents, videos and photos in the cloud. The free account offers storage space of up to 2G, if you need more storage space you’ll have to upgrade to the paid-for version. Read more about Dropbox and download the app for easy file sharing when you’re on the go.

JoikuSpot

Available in either a Light or Premium version JoikuSpot turns your 3G smartphone into a wifi hotspot. This is one of my favourite apps and while the free version has limited capabilities it is definitely worthwhile to purchase the Premium version. The app can be used on Symbian or Windows operated mobile phones, download it here.

Gravity

Gravity is arguably the best Symbian Twitter client on the market. Albeit paid-for, I think it is money well spent. The app allow you to upload photos directly to third-party sites like TwitPic or Posterous and you can easily manage multiple Twitter accounts from your phone. The latest version of the app allow you to ‘draft’ and ‘schedule’ tweets – very handy! Download Gravity here.

AccuWeather

AccuWeather comes pre-installed on most smartphones and provides you with access to up-to-date weather forecasts for most of the major cities world-wide.

Nimbuzz

Need all your social networks in one place? With Nimbuzz you easily manage all major IM networks (GTalk, Skype and MSN) and social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, MySpace). Read more about Nimbuzz or download the app.

What is your favourite app and why? Let us know in the comments!

There are thousands of iPhone apps available but not all of them aim to drive sales. A good example of an iPhone app that aims to increase sales as well as awareness for a brand’s product is Tiffany’s iPhone app, the ‘Ring Finder.’  Tiffany introduced its first iPhone app earlier this month and among others the app allows users to browse Tiffany’s rings based on size, setting, design and different carat sizes.  Rings are displayed in true-size and users can zoom in on a ring’s various details from different angles.  Once users have found ‘The One’ they can share it with friends and family through email, Facebook or Twitter and save the rings they like. In addition users can schedule appointments and consultations directly from the app to find out more about Tiffany’s rings.

The Tiffany’s app is also educational.  Users can learn about Tiffany’s various ring styles, the qualities of different diamonds and as a bonus the app allow users to determine the size of a an actual ring by placing it on their phone’s screen and adjusting the circle size until it is aligned with the inside of the actual ring.  A handy tool for those guys that want to keep the proposal a surprise!

Along with the iPhone app Tiffany’s introduced a .mobi site that showcase their new store design. According to MobileMarketer.com the mobile site allow users to browse some of Tiffany’s jewellery, provide information about the new stores, list directions to the stores via Google Maps and users can click-to-call a store.  It would be interesting to know what percentage of Tiffany’s total sales is generated through the iPhone app. Below is a video to demonstrate the app’s functionality, enjoy!