Many of you have asked if we will be allowing users to select the location of ShopSavvy (i.e. internal or external locations like the SD card). The answer is we will. The update will come in the next few days (maybe weeks). It is a fair simple edit as described here. The only concern we have about releasing too quickly is that we want to test it first. So give us some time to test and YES we will release an update that allows you to store ShopSavvy on your SD card (Android rocks).
Here at the Big in Japan offices we are watching a live feed of ShopSavvy decoding barcodes at a steady-state rate of 22 per second. Periodically we will see a spike to more than 90 decodes per second. This is an unprecedented level of scanning – we have not seen this level of activity since Christmas 2009 – perhaps the economy is recovering (hopefully Europe won’t drag us down).
ShopSavvy 1.4.1 Update: We just got an email from Apple that our latest version of ShopSavvy – version 1.4.1 has been approved. It usually takes a few days to propagate through iTunes, but we are really excited. This will be the first version of ShopSavvy to include the latest technology from our own SDK (i.e. our scanning technology that we offer to third-parties at no cost). Several hundred thousand of you (hopefully 2G an 3G users) updated over the past couple of days to 1.4. We discovered a strange bug for 3GS users and 1.4.1 resolves it quite nicely. Download HERE (note 1.4 still shows up for me, make sure you are getting 1.4.1, especially if you have a 3GS).
ShopSavvy UI Update: On a side note we have finally locked down our new UI plan for our next release – planned to coincide with the release of the iPhone 4.0 OS. By then we should have a) the best scanning, b) the best product coverage and c) the coolest looking shopping app in iTunes (knock on wood). As I explained in an earlier post we will be releasing ‘ShopSavvy Classic’ for anyone unable or unwilling to update to 4.0. The classic version of ShopSavvy will sport our old icon/logo and our ‘classic’ UI. We assume our new UI will irk longtime ShopSavvy users – good news, you can download ShopSavvy Classic and enjoy the old look and feel.
SDK Update: If you previously downloaded our Barcode Scanner SDK for iPhone you need to download it again. In the SDK folder there are two different versions of the scanner – one for 3.0+ and another for 4.0+. Our latest SDK takes advantage of many cool features available in 4.0, but not reverse compatible with 3.0+. When 4.0 is released developers will have a tough decision to make – continue to support 3.0+ users or abandon them for 4.0 requiring an OS update (or new phone purchase for 2G iPhone users). Download HERE.
The Barcode Scanner SDK supports both 1D (UPC and EAN) and 2D (QR and Datamatrix) barcodes. Specifically designed to work on both fixed and variable focal length cameras, our Barcode Scanning library is one of the best in the business and best of all it is FREE!
Did you know that ShopSavvy (for both iPhone and Android) scans all of those strange 2D barcodes (QR Codes)? It sure does. Very few users even know ShopSavvy can decode those strange boxy codes, but it is true nonetheless. We bought a company called Snappr who pioneered the 2D scanning space earlier this year and have slowly been rolling out 2D scanning support. With this technology ShopSavvy can scan:
If you previously downloaded our Barcode Scanner SDK for iPhone you need to download it again. In the SDK folder there are two different versions of the scanner – one for 3.0+ and another for 4.0+. Our latest SDK takes advantage of many cool features available in 4.0, but not reverse compatible with 3.0+. When 4.0 is released developers will have a tough decision to make – continue to support 3.0+ users or abandon them for 4.0 requiring an OS update (or new phone purchase for 2G iPhone users). Download HERE.
The Barcode Scanner SDK supports both 1D (UPC and EAN) and 2D (QR and Datamatrix) barcodes. Specifically designed to work on both fixed and variable focal length cameras, our Barcode Scanning library is one of the best in the business and best of all it is FREE!
How will this impact ShopSavvy? ShopSavvy is running an older version of our new SDK now so it is a fairly good example of the SDK in action (note the latest version has a few improvements). When 4.0 is released later this year we will be updating our primary app – ShopSavvy with all of the 4.0 goodness meaning anyone who can’t update to 4.0 (i.e. you 2G iPhone users) will be left out in the cold. We have a solution – ‘ShopSavvy Classic’ – will be released for anyone unable or unwilling to update to 4.0. The classic version of ShopSavvy will sport our old icon/logo and our ‘classic’ UI. We decided to completely overhaul our UI for 4.0 and we know it will irk longtime ShopSavvy users – good news, you can download ShopSavvy Classic and enjoy the old look and feel.
It took longer than we had hoped, but ShopSavvy now supports ‘wicked fast‘ barcode scanning on both 2G and 3G iPhones. Sadly, there is a little issue with scanning on the 3GS making it slightly slower than before – so if you haven’t updated ShopSavvy on your 3GS (wait until the NEXT update in the next few days). For those of you with older 2G or 3G iPhones it is time to update ShopSavvy. This update also includes QR code support so feel free to scan those funky two dimensional barcodes you may have seen.
Brad‘s brother John Feld and Gabriella Draney asked if we would be willing (along with Ryan Roberts) to sponsor ‘Beers with Brad’ this Friday – we happily agreed. We will meet Friday night between 6PM and 8PM at Lotus on 2900 McKinney Ave. You are all invited and as is our custom, the bar will be open until the money runs out (which because of the venue might not take that long).
Who is Brad Feld? Brad has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur for over 20 years. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures, a company that helped launch and operate software companies and later became a venture affiliate of the predecessor to Mobius Venture Capital.
Brad currently serves on the board of directors of Gist, Gnip, Oblong, Standing Cloud, and Zynga for Foundry Group. Previously, Brad served as chief technology officer of AmeriData Technologies. AmeriData acquired Feld Technologies, a firm he founded in 1987 that specialized in custom software applications. Brad had grown Feld Technologies into one of Boston’s leading software consulting firms prior to the acquisition. He also directed the diversification into software consulting at AmeriData, a $1.5 billion publicly-traded company which was acquired by GE Capital in 1995.
In addition to his investing efforts, Brad has been active with several non-profit organizations and currently is chairman of the National Center for Women & Information Technology. Brad is a nationally recognized speaker on the topics of venture capital investing and entrepreneurship and writes widely read and well respected blogs at www.feld.com and www.askthevc.com.
Notable companies that Brad has invested in and/or sat on the boards of include Abuzz (acq. NYT), Anyday.com (acq. PALM), Critical Path (CPTH), Cyanea (acq. IBM), Dante Group (acq. WEBM), DataPower (acq. IBM), FeedBurner (acq. by GOOG), Feld Group (acq. by EDS), Harmonix (acq. VIA), NetGenesis (IPO), ServiceMagic (acq. IACI), and ServiceMetrics (acq. EXDS).
Brad holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Brad is also an avid art collector and long-distance runner. He has completed fifteen marathons as part of his mission to run a marathon in each of the 50 states.
Peter Kafka latest article titled, “Don’t Kid Yourself, Mobile Ad Companies: Apple Really Does Want to Lock Up the App Market” is dead on. Read the article yourself, but the conclusion is pretty dire for companies seeking to build an ad network for the iPhone and iPad. It makes too much sense – Apple CAN do it better and has proven time and time again they are willing to lock companies out for the good of their product and their users (and they are fine defining what is good and bad).
All hope is NOT lost. I think Steve Jobs is really pressing entrepreneurs to think beyond the obvious, beyond simply location based banner advertising. Entrepreneurs seeking to create real value will need to take advertising past the obvious and begin to truly innovate.
Our team got a wake up call several months ago when Apple suggested that ad networks couldn’t target location simply for the sake of serving an ad. We began to think about which ads were working and which ads weren’t. We realized that the ads that ‘did something’ were highly effective, while the ads that simply related to your location weren’t. What if ALL of the advertising we served was 100% tied to what the customer wanted to buy? Those would be some valuable ads.
Developers, don’t give up. The iAd will be the defacto way to get ads into your apps – Admob and the rest will eventually be pushed out of the Apple ecosystem. But you don’t have stop innovating – creating new ways to leverage the information generated by your app to generate revenue. Think outside of the box – there are a lot of ways to make money in this new mobile world. Oh and there is always Android! 
More than a few retailers email us each week asking how we want them to structure their product API so they can get their inventory and pricing information into ShopSavvy. Here is the format we recommend:
Requested API Specification:
[REQUEST]
http://api.provider.com?barcode=012345543210
[RESPONSE]
<Response>
<Product>
<Title>Toothbrush ABC</Title>
<Image>http://www.acme.com/pic1.jpg</Image>
<Image>http://www.acme.com/pic2.jpg</Image>
<Image>http://www.acme.com/pic3.jpg</Image>
</Product>
<Offers>
<Offer>
<Merchant>ACME</Merchant>
<Quality>New/Used</Quality>
<Price currency=”USDollars”>14.99</Price>
<Link>http://www.acme.com/product/123</Link>
<Phone></Phone>
<Address></Address>
<Latitude></Latitude>
<Longitude></Longitude>
</Offer>
<Offer>
<Merchant>Store XYZ</Merchant>
<Quality>New/Used</Quality>
<Price currency=”USDollars”>14.99</Price>
<Link>http://www.storexyz.com/product/123</Link>
<Phone></Phone>
<Address></Address>
<Latitude></Latitude>
<Longitude></Longitude>
</Offer>
<Offer>
<Merchant>123 Store</Merchant>
<Quality>New/Used</Quality>
<Price currency=”USDollars”>14.99</Price>
<Link>http://www.123Store.com/product/123</Link>
<Phone></Phone>
<Address></Address>
<Latitude></Latitude>
<Longitude></Longitude>
</Offer>
</Offers>
</Response>
Once you have built your API email us at sales@biggu.com and we will get it in our PriceNark platform and then into ShopSavvy. Thanks!
