We are often asked to what proportion the various mobile operating systems are represented by our users. The last statistic is nearly one year old, so it’s now time for an update. Below is the evolution of the various mobile platforms at barcoo:

You will have noticed the striking Samsung bada dent in the middle of last year. This is due to the fact that we supported bada from the start, that the Samsung devices sold well and that their app store was pretty empty. Therefore users downloaded most of the few apps available to them in the store. This temporary high market share could not be kept indefinitely. With a current overall market share of 5%, but nonetheless increasing steadily, the bada platform should still remain of interest to some app developers.

Nokia Symbian is a tragedy (see analysis by Tomi Ahonen). From August 31st, barcoo will cease supporting Nokia Symbian. It was a very painful decision: we’ve invested again and again in this platform, but now it’s enough. It’s all over.

In the graph, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry are hardly to be seen. Here also, because of the continued lack of use, we have been compelled to discontinue support for these platforms. We are currently not planning any WP7 or webOS version either. Anyone interested in detailed statistics will find the historical data in Google Docs.

The evolution of the current market share, compared to the average for 2010:

No surprises. It should be quite clear where we’re heading. Or not? Nokia will be (most likely) purchased soon. A lot is possible then: Maybe MeeGo after all? Exciting.

At barcoo we aim to make independent product information available to consumers – no matter where. We specialize in combining and refining information from multiple sources and bringing it to the mobile screen in a matter of seconds – so that you are able to make informed consumer decisions right in the store. But since we expect most of you to spend time at home or in the office as well, we would like to bring the same kind of service to a bigger device that might be more adapted to these settings.

Therefore we have brought barcoo to the iPad! We took the existing iPhone version and redeveloped it from the ground up so that it adapts to the different usability and screen requirements. This results in a very different user interface even though both versions share the same core and are delivered in one universal package that can be downloaded in the iTunes AppStore. Most users will not hold an iPad with one hand but instead hold it on the lap or on a table – so one notable example is that navigation elements would rather be difficult to reach on the bottom of the screen, therefore being placed on the upper left corner for easy access. Also, you might not want to run around with it to scan in the store and search for information regarding a specific product, but rather use it to browse and discover products.

barcoo for iPad

However, for those who want it, barcoo supports scanning on iPads of second generation that have a camera. For everyone else, we made browsing and discovery very easy. Right after the start we show you the most popular product categories or what is being scanned in the area. To protect users’ privacy we strip the exact location and the user data from this map, but it is still fun to see in what city areas people are scanning what.

We also made our product guides easier to reach. They provide short but precise insights into important consumer topics – like what to keep in mind when choosing a wine to buy.

The new version of barcoo is already available in the iTunes-AppStore as a free download and also brings additional improvements for iPhone users. We look forward to your feedback.

Since barcoo’s inception in January 2009 (in Germany), we’ve made an insane amount of changes and developments in just about everything but our app’s design (the very format of the information), which has stayed more or less the same. But the ever-accumulating information on barcoo’s database too often ended up diffusing into endless snaking chains and word blocks, which became quite the eye sore.

Now, after having thoroughly analyzed barcoo’s usage, we’ve developed a whole new design that will enhance your usage of the app. Here’s what it looks like:

There are three so-called ‘tabs’ that structure all of the contents: information, prices and evaluations. The product information is preselected by default (with the food traffic light, the sustainability traffic light and lots of other background information). However, the core information of the other two tabs is still visible in the top righthand corner. This design is immediately available for each of the two million people who’ve already installed barcoo! Marcus is looking forward to your Feedback.

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