Posted to GPS TECHREVIEW

Scanned directly from the printed page to a smartphone, geo-aware mobile coupon scanners offer marketers branding, retailers traffic, and consumers on the go with savings.

ScanLife, an App widely available online as a free download, turns a mobile phone into a bar-code reader to capture the quick-response (QR) codes printed in advertisements. Versions exist for the iPhone and BlackBerry as well as Android-based handsets in the United States. ScanLife can read many standard bar codes on a variety of phones, so it can also perform price comparisons.

The way it works is simple – Readers scan the code into an Internet-enabled phone, and the QR bar code will take them to a mobile menu providing information about the item, including where to buy it and a coupon to incentivize a sale.

A recent story in the NYT suggests that it may take time for scanning to take hold, but no one foresaw the impact of the App Store either.

Consumers will learn – sooner than later – that their GPS enabling Apps like GPS Tracking – will allow them to not only locate a retailer, but share the location and valuable information like coupons with their network.