• February 19, 2010

Google has launched Google Shopper, a new Android application that lets people use their camera phones to get product information in various ways. Users can scan the cover art of books, CDs, DVDs and video games and most barcodes to find reviews, pricing and other product details.

Shopper also allows users to search products by voice and saves search histories for later reference, according to a post on Google's Mobile Blog about the new app available via the company's Android Market. It can also be downloaded through a QR code on the Mobile Blog.

Google last year introduced barcode scanning through Google Product Search for Android-power phones in the U.S. and the U.K. The new Shopper app ratchets up competition to similar offerings like ShopSavvy from mobile developer Big in Japan. Its app, which includes an Android version, also lets users scan barcodes to retrieve product information online.

But Big CEO Alexander Muse told the blog Android and Me he wasn't overly concerned about Shopper. "It uses Google's shopping data which is good (we use it in ShopSavvy), but we also have direct relationships with 20,000 + retailers. Google and Amazon are and have always been our biggest competitors," he said. Amazon has its own barcode-scanning app that provides product data from Amazon.com. --Mark Walsh