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Following its move into mobile TV services, Nokia has revealed the latest step in its evolution from handset maker to content enabler, by talking about its plans to build pointing technology into its Symbian handsets next year. In contrast to similar innovations such as the one developed by GeoVector that focuses on the locational applications of the technology, Nokia is emphasizing the power of its so-called “Point&Find” technology as an advertising solution. If anything, this makes it more interesting in terms of its potential to generate ROI for operators and advertisers.

Like other pointing solutions, Nokia’s technology (acquired through its acquisition of Pixto) addresses mobile Internet users’ lower tolerance for multiple clicks by allowing them to simply point their phone at an object to access content. However, unlike Geovector’s service, it doesn’t rely on the sometimes unreliable/imprecise GPS system. Neither does it involve barcode scanning of the kind popular among Japanese mobile users, that requires mass participation by advertisers and media channels in the form of codes printed on products and publications.

Instead, Nokia’s solution is the first to use a visual version of the kind of audio pattern recognition technology used by Shazam, the UK-based music identification service. The example given by Nokia as a typical application is a user that points his “Point&Find” enabled handset at a CD, the cover of which is matched against an online database, and tracks from which are then offered to the user for purchase and download. Theoretically, this principal could be extended to everything from clothes to cars, or even houses. Nokia also suggests that eventually the technology could enable a user to point their phone at a crowd of people and identify friends. However, this is stretching its potential to a fairly distant point in the future.

“Point&Find” is exactly the kind of solution that really contributes to optimizing mobile content consumption from both a user and an advertiser perspective. It utilizes the immediacy of the mobile environment by enabling users to find information about something that is relevant to them at a specific point in time, wherever they are. It also makes accessing that content as simple and straightforward as possible. And it offers advertisers the holy grail of serving ultra relevant ads on an anywhere, anytime basis, creating a 24/7 sales channel that is simultaneously independent of and relevant to user location.

Hamish M.