Face-recognition technology developed for counter-terrorism purposes is powering a new cameraphone-based application for mobile phone marketing, called Snap Happy.
The imaging technology behind Snap Happy, offered by marketing firm Magnet Harlequin 's mobile division, enables camerphone users to get access to free mobile content or be sent details of special offers simply by sending an MMS picture message to a special number.
Summer campaigns
The technology, which will recognise even partial images, debuted last month in a low-key campaign to support the recent release of the movie Mr Bean's Holiday . Universal Pictures is among the Magnet Harlequin clients who are planning to use Snap Happy technology, employing it in a campaign for at least one major movie release this summer.
Described by Magnet Harlequin's head of technology for marketing, Scott Seaborn, as "like mobile search on crack", Snap Happy was, he told Tech.co.uk "connecting the digital world to the physical world." It would, he said, "inspire a new generation of search tools by creating an internet of physical things."