The gap between the offline and wireless worlds is getting smaller

If you wander through the streets or if you go shopping, have you ever felt you would like to check a comparable offering on the internet? Probably most of us have not so far. But with new wireless devices and cheaper data packages it soon will be totally normal to compare and check stuff on your mobile. Let me give you an example: You probably have seen those pieces of papers that get attached to the inner windows of cars saying:"For sale for only $1290", right? In case you really needed a new car at that moment, you possibly stopped and wrote down the telephone number, right? Then you would call the person, and asked for some details, test drive, etc... But wouldn´t it be great, if you had all the details about the car written down somewhere or even better in a digital way? Wouldn´t it be great to directly compare the offering with other cars? Wouldn´t it be great to do the transaction on a secure internet platform? Well eat this: A young company from Switzerland has launched a cool wireless feature for eBay listings that spits out a 2D- graphical and branded code that the seller could stick on his car or any other item. All the buyer would have to do is get the small Java client via SMS and take a picture of the code. The buyer then gets directly transfered to the eBay WAP listing of the car and he could bookmark the car in order to compare it later to other car offerings on the internet. Check out: http://ebay.beetagg.com!

Of course this idea is not brand new, since there are already things like "text to buy" in the USA, supported by Paypal, but the market is just starting up. Believe me. In about 12 months from now we will see many posters and advertisements in the streets that include some kind of wireless link! Wanna bet?