Google Adds Barcode Scanning to Product Search (Android-only)

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.