Google Product Search for Mobile now has barcode scanning ability. The obvious convenience factor is that, rather than typing in the name of the product you’re looking at, you can just scan the barcode and get shopping results (and information) on your Android-powered phone.

Google’s announcement today explains that barcode scanning currently is at its best with products like books, movies, electronics, and video games. Google says they’re working on adding more barcode types.

The new Barcode Scanner is available in the US and UK on Android-powered devices only — there’s no iPhone equivalent from Google on this tool. As we were trading emails on this earlier, Barry Schwartz pointed out that there are a few barcode scanning apps for the iPhone, but the camera doesn’t take clear enough photos to make the scanning effective.

Related Topics: Google: Mobile | Google: Product Search

About The Author: Matt McGee is Search Engine Land's Executive News Editor, responsible for overseeing our daily news coverage. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee and/or on Google Plus. See more articles by Matt McGee