Apple is currently looking into instant product research capabilities for the iPhone which can be implemented via a simple bar code or even Near Fields Communication (NFC). What they plan to achieve is to allow users to get reviews, advise and detail information of products easier from a mobile device.
Apple had filled couple of patents for such use called Products+. The possibility is endless and the post by Apple insider had mentioned a number of interesting uses such as scanning codes on products for review or even using it to add events to your calendar. For barcode scanning, we don’t see what is stopping Apple of acheiving that now as even Google has being doing it through Google Goggles. All they need is to have a software that works and an online engine to transate that code to what it was intended for.
If it does use NFC, upcoming iPhones may join the likes of Nokia to expand NFC devices which isn’t doing massively well in Malaysia.
