SPH signs deal today to launch breakthrough mobile technology which enables handphone cameras to retrieve data instantly

Media giant Singapore Press Holdings is to launch a revolutionary service which will allow users of mobile phones with cameras to retrieve information instantly on a product or service they want to know more of.

Mr Michael Chin, SPH's EVP, Corporate Development, and Mr Frank Brown, Director of ColorZip SEA Pte Ltd, signing the ZapCode contract.

How does this work? Look for the ZapCode icon in print ads, product packs or on any other item which carries this icon. The ZapCode is essentially a high-tech colour version of the familiar back and white barcode most consumers are already familiar with. Aim the camera at the ZapCode and click.

Explaining how this works, Mr Leslie Fong SPH's Executive Vice-President of Marketing, says: "The marketing and communication opportunities which ZapCode opens up are mind-boggling. For example, a department store may have a ZapCode printed in an advertisement. Any reader who wants more information or pictures or even a video of other items not shown in the ad has only to zap the code and these will be transmitted within seconds to his mobile phone.

"Or a dog owner can have a ZapCode embedded in a tag around the neck of his pet so that if it strays from home, any finder of the lost animal needs only zap the code to learn whom to contact. The possibilities are endless."

But this award-winning software must first be installed on a mobile phone or PDA. Free download of this deciphering software - which can be done via SMS, WAP or the Internet - to users' phones will be provided by CZSEA (ColorZip SEA), which signed an agreement with media giant Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) this morning to launch the breakthrough mobile technology.

CZSEA holds the rights to this patented technology and it has given SPH rights to become its master distributor and licensee in Singapore.

CZSEA will also work closely with SPH New Media, which is set to start an intensive marketing campaign to promote this service,, telecommunication companies and mobile phone manufacturers to ensure that new models will come with the software pre-installed.

Mr Fong adds:" What's more, the codes can be zapped from more than five metres away (depending on the camera) - and at low resolutions - which means that they can be on signboards, posters, billboards, lamp posts, bus panels and whatever outdoor media one can think of.

"I can get all excited just talking about this remarkable fusion of print and mobile phone technology. Our aim is to make it part of life in high-tech Singapore. Over time, we want these codes to be everywhere, in newspapers, on T-shirts, signages, name cards, birthday cakes and so on, and zapping them will become as natural as breathing."

Not only does ZapCode's colourful matrix and patterns make an appealing design statement, there is also no limit on the amount of information the code can offer since it is linked to a server which is where the data resides, says an SPH statement.

This makes it a great medium for interactive content, audience participation and user tracking, enabling publications and advertisers to connect, inform and interact with their users, it adds.

Mr John Moore, the chief executive officer of CZSEA says: "This revolutionary technology is set to define a whole new generation of social and cultural behaviour. ZapCode will be the next cultural icon of the modern world."