The barcodes were used on a virtual shopping wall outside an Australian movie theater.

Disney partnered up with an Australian mid-market retailer called Target for a mobile marketing campaign using QR codes in order to reach children attending a screening of the classic animated film, Cinderella.

The barcodes were mounted on an interactive shopping wall to allow kids to learn about branded products.

The wall was located at a Sydney movie theater. It was geared toward children using their parents smartphones. It displayed a number of branded Disney products that may be of interest to those children and that were being sold at Target. The QR codes allowed the children to learn more about those products so that they could be purchased by their parents.

The QR codes were designed to simultaneously build on the child’s experience and display various products.

The Event Cinema virtual wall was at Sydney’s Castle Hill. This was where the Cinderella was being screened over the weekend. The QR codes were left up only for that one weekend as a deliberate temporary mobile commerce event, and not one that was designed to be permanent. Audience members were able to view various Disney products from Target, such as costumes and DVDs, and allowed them to order them online to be shipped to their homes.

“Like with everything else, young kids will be seeing the movie with their parents, so it’s expected they’ll use their parent’s smartphones to interact with the wall,” said a spokesperson from Disney. When the QR codes on the wall were scanned, they directed the user to the Target website page that was connected to the product next to which the barcode was displayed. They could be scanned either with any free barcode reader, or the Disney Princess Store app.

Disney has been taking several steps into the mobile commerce world, including augmented reality toys, shopping applications, and a number of other efforts. It has also used QR codes for several other purposes, for instance, to connect the user with different types of online content, like videos. However, this is the first time that the company has ever used these barcodes as a virtual store or to help to link consumers directly to a page where they can make a purchase.

Samsung reveals Galaxy S4

Samsung this week revealed its highly anticipated Galaxy S4, only 9 months after the release of the massively successful Galaxy S III. The Galaxy S4 is packed with several upgrades that make it a bit more powerful than its predecessor, but the new mobile device’s potential use in mobile commerce is attracting the most attention. Like its predecessor, the Galaxy S4 is expected to have a strong focus on mobile commerce, allowing users to make mobile payments and shop online using their device.

New device equipped with Mobeam technology

The Galaxy S4 will be equipped with new technology that has been developed by mobile commerce startup Mobeam. Mobeam has been on the search for partners since it announced the development of its barcode scanning technology for mobile devices. The technology is capable of scanning barcodes, such as QR codes, like simple barcode scanning applications. The technology does, however, provide something new in that it enables point-of-sale scanners to scan barcodes that are presented on the screen of  the Galaxy S4.

Mobeam makes barcodes important again

Mobeam calls the technology “light based communications,” or LBC. This technology works by using the priximity sensors of the Galaxy S4 to beam light pulses that mimic barcode patterns. This allows point-of-sale scanners to register the device’s barcodes. Using Mobeam’s LBC would allow consumers to scan the barcode of a particular product and have this barcode scanned at point-of-sale in order to make a purchase. This could also be used to take advantage of the various price-matching initiatives that several retailers have in place.

Technology could be available for third-party developers in the future

Mobeam’s technology is currently exclusive to the Galaxy S4, but Samsung suggests that it could be available for third-party developers at some point in the future. The technology has some promising implications for mobile commerce, especially as consumers become more interested in making use of QR codes and other such tools.