Samsung Partners with Mobeam to Add Barcode Scanning to Galaxy S4

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Highlighted during the Samsung Unpacked event in New York City this evening, mobeam proudly announces the new Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone will be the world's first mobile device to integrate its light based communications (LBC) technology so it can beam traditional 1D bar codes. With embedded mobeam technology, the Galaxy S4 will be able to Engage in mobile commerce at millions of locations without requiring retailers to make changes to their existing point of sale (POS) systems or technologies.

Mobeam's patented technology solves the key problem that has limited the progress of mobile commerce - the vast majority of existing POS systems are unable to communicate with smartphones. Mobeam converts barcodes, coupons, loyalty cards and gift cards into a beam of light that can be read by every one of the estimated 165 million laser scanners in use today by retailers around the world.

With mobeam's technology, the Galaxy S4 can "beam" traditional 1D barcode data to any laser scanner with no new equipment, such as optical scanners or backend systems, required by the retailer. As Samsung highlighted during this year's Mobile World Congress, retailers prefer barcodes because they don't have to install any new infrastructure to support it.

"Mobeam's vision is simple -- to make mobile commerce work with existing point of sale technology," said Chris Sellers, CEO of mobeam. "Making cutting-edge smartphones work with barcodes might not sound sexy, but it means consumers now have the ability to 'beam' items such as coupons, loyalty cards, gift cards and event tickets at millions of locations - something that was previously impossible. Barcodes are universal and won't be replaced anytime soon, meaning retailers don't need to upgrade their POS systems. The mobile industry now has a commerce technology that can work everywhere, and the world will see it first on the Samsung Galaxy S4."

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