By Google Goggles is currently the bee’s knees among Android users, and Google can obviously see that. We’re scanning QR codes, text, pictures of products, and more to search for stuff without having to know the product name and manually type it in. As it ties into search, one would think that the next logical step for Goggles would be to tie it into advertising. Google thinks so too, of course, and that’s what they’ve enabled with a new experiment they’re holding with a few of their partners.
Businesses can enable a richer advertising experience by enabling their ads with Goggles support. For instance, walking into a movie theater and “Goggling” the poster for a movie would bring up its trailer, while “Goggling” a picture of the inside of a Buick would bring up a deal or a fuller version of the ad for the user to check out. Watch the video above to get more of an idea of the direction Google’s going in with this.
I think this is great and it will really make the advertising experience for mobile users and advertisers much more fun. It’s clear that Google’s trying to evolve ads by making them fun, interactive, and engaging. No longer are we being met with boring black on white text with a blue hyperlink to take us to a web page. We’re looking at full color ads just as you would anywhere and extracting an experience out of them. Sign me up!
I’ve had Goggles on my phone since it was first released. I used it once or twice then but haven’t touched it since.
Would love to hear other the thoughts other Phans have about Goggles…
They are really pushing into the augmented reality arena, better throughput for the wireless devices is giving usability that previously was very restricted.
Right there with you, Michael. I used it a couple times, and then it got relegated to the back of my app list. Not sure what the draw is…but perhaps I’m missing something.
I’ve had my nexus since the day it came out with goggles installed, i too have only used it once or twice.
This article raises my interest in it a little so i might try it out again.
I just received a postcard mailer yesterday from a local hospital with a QR code. The link was for their mobile site with lots of FAQ.
Caught me off guard considering this hospital and their current marketing in the city, or lack there of. Kind of nice to see it outside of geek sites or tech/sports advertisements.
i saw a QR code on the tag of a stereo i was looking at in Best Buy. When i scanned it, it took me to BB’s site for that item where i was able to read customer reviews of it.
This looks cool! Maybe I’ll start using it more to help further development in this area.
Like other commenters, I installed goggles when it first appeared and played with it a couple of times but didn’t really get the point of it. I think I was confusing it with similar looking apps such as Shopsavvy and barcode scanner.
From this article I’ve had another look at it and it’s pretty amazing! Now I know it’s an alternative input method for information searching rather than just for product purchasing… I flicked through a stack of magazines and tried it with various adverts and images from articles, there was very little it couldn’t provide some info for AND it looks veeery cool doing it :-)
I’d use it a lot more if they bothered to fix the exception that occurs when you use it with ipv6 disabled.
Why did they use iphones to advertise it!!??
Tried it a few months ago. It couldnt recognize anything
Right there with you, Ben. I too asked myself why that would be the first phone they would show instead of promoting their product on a phone that actually runs THEIR OS.
Google Goggles is the worst app…ever. Seriously. Garbage. Kinda like the new voice app, it recognizes maybe 10% of what I attempt. Never quite sure how these things work so well in Google’s demo videos.
I am pretty sure they chose the iPhone because most iPhone users would think it worthless or not hip if it was not on their precious phone.