Barcode Scanning App Posts Items Directly to Pinterest
Pinterest let’s you ‘pin’ your favorite places, photos, and links to boards so they are easily accessible and organized whenever you want them. But what about actual products? LoveList is a new iPhone app that gives you the ability to scan real-life products directly to your Pinterest boards using the item’s barcode. Now, if you’re out and about at a store and see something you like, simply scan the barcode, choose the board you want to pin to, and you’ve added it to your collection. Created by Brad Mahler, a creative director at Possible, and Mark Tholking, an iOS developer and co-founder of BigSho, LoveList has the potential to act as a registry or wish list that facilitates easier product purchase. Mahler explained the inspiration for the app in an interview with TechCrunch:
"My fiancée and I were shopping and we found an item we wanted to add to our Amazon registry. We keep a Pinterest board for that purpose, so as my fiancée was pinning it she asked, ‘why can’t I just scan this to Pin it?’ "
Despite the fact that Pinterest-driven traffic to retailer sites returns a product that no longer exists as much as 50-60 percent of the time, LoveList is the first tool that works to make this process easier. However, that’s not to say LoveList is the be-all and end-all. Yes, with LoveList, there is still the possibility of returning a product that no longer exists due to the product links are recycled. And, yes, as of right now, LoveList only works with barcodes that are connected to Amazon’s product database (which while large, is not exhaustive). LoveList hopes to gain enough widespread use that they can begin adding individual retailers to the database and further propel its usefulness. The LoveList app is currently available for purchase on iTunes, and below is a short demo video.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-tOvv2ltX8