As part of its big push into mobile shopping, eBay has reduced the price of RedLaser from $1.99 to zero. Find the free link below amid eBay's release about the acquisition.
eBay Acquires RedLaser, the Leading Barcode-Scanning iPhone ApplicationeBay to Offer RedLaser as Free Standalone Application; Plans to Integrate Technology into Its Suite of Mobile Shopping and Selling Apps
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY), a leader in mobile commerce and the world's largest online marketplace, today announced that it has acquired RedLaser, the popular barcode-scanning application for iPhone, and related technology from Occipital. With over two million downloads, RedLaser is the top-selling iPhone barcode-scanning application for comparison shopping and finding product information using a mobile device. Terms for the deal were not disclosed.
"With RedLaser's innovative technology, eBay is continuing to help shoppers quickly find the best deals online, and eBay sellers will be able to list their items faster."
"Mobile enables consumers to make impulse buys and convenient purchases wherever they are, and eBay is constantly innovating to make mobile shopping easy and reduce the friction in commerce," said Mark Carges, chief technology officer and senior vice president, global products, eBay Marketplaces. "With RedLaser's innovative technology, eBay is continuing to help shoppers quickly find the best deals online, and eBay sellers will be able to list their items faster."
eBay plans to integrate RedLaser's barcode-scanning technology into its leading iPhone applications, including its eBay Marketplace, eBay Selling, StubHub and Shopping.com applications, providing more than 10 million users with access to product information for fast and easy selling and comparison shopping. The technology is designed to help consumers find great deals online for virtually any product with a barcode, and for eBay sellers to quickly create listings by accessing pricing trends and product details for millions of items in eBay's catalog. The eBay Selling application for the iPhone will be the first iPhone application to take advantage of RedLaser's barcode-scanning technology for mobile users to sell items online.
eBay is immediately transitioning RedLaser from a paid application to a free standalone application. The company also plans to significantly increase selection on RedLaser by integrating more than 200 million listings from eBay, as well as product inventory from over 7,000 global merchants on Shopping.com, including 95 of the top 100 online retailers.
The RedLaser technology is being used in a wide variety of applications including grocery shopping lists, gift registries, and nutritional tracking. eBay plans on increasing developer support of the RedLaser technology in the future.
The acquisition of the RedLaser application builds on eBay Inc.'s momentum and innovation in mobile commerce. In 2010, eBay released an iPad application and three new iPhone apps: eBay Selling, eBay Classifieds and StubHub. eBay Inc. is a global leader in mobile commerce with $1.5 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) expected in 2010 through its mobile platforms. eBay's mobile applications are available to millions of iPhone, BlackBerry and Android users in more than 190 countries and eight languages. A mobile purchase is made every two seconds via eBay's mobile applications.
To download the free RedLaser iPhone application, please go here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/redlaser/id312720263?mt=8
About eBay Inc. Mobile
eBay launched its first application for the iPhone in July 2008 and has since become a leader in mobile commerce. Its core iPhone application, which is available free via iTunes in eight languages and 190 countries, has been downloaded more than 10 million times and allows users to fully browse and buy from the more than 200 million listings on eBay without leaving the application. The eBay app for the iPad is currently the number one free shopping iPad app in the iTunes Store and delivers a dramatically different, visually compelling shopping experience to browse and purchase the vast selection of products available on eBay. eBay's suite of mobile apps, including Selling, Classifieds, StubHub and Deals, make selling and buying possible virtually anywhere, anytime. In 2009, eBay's mobile merchandise volume - the value of all goods sold - was more than $600 million. eBay expects to generate $1.5 billion in merchandise volume through mobile commerce in 2010.
eBay Inc's PayPal division has been delivering mobile payments since 2005 and has a mobile app for the iPhone, Android and RIM smartphones as well as SMS and WAP-based payments solutions. In 2009, $141 million in payments were transacted over PayPal's mobile applications. PayPal launched a new version of its iPhone app in March 2010, which has been downloaded more than two million times.
For more information on eBay mobile, visit www.mobile.ebay.com
About Occipital
Occipital is a technology startup creating a human-computer interface which seamlessly augments the human sense of vision. By combining computer vision algorithms with new mobile devices, Occipital will bring this interface to the palm of your hand. In 2009, Occipital created RedLaser, the state-of-the-art mobile barcode scanning application which has been downloaded over 2 million times on the iPhone platform. Occipital will release a new mobile application in Q3 2010 based on a completely new computer vision engine. Based in Boulder CO, Occipital was founded in 2008 by University of Michigan Alumni Jeffrey Powers and Vikas Reddy, and was one of 10 companies selected to join the TechStars program in 2008.
