announced that its GoCart™ application – a personal shopping assistant – has been named one of 10 winners among nearly 1,800 entries in the Google Android Developer Challenge, a contest to build mobile-phone applications for the Android operating system. Big in Japan was awarded a $275,000 prize by Google for its winning entry.

GoCart enables consumers to comparison shop while on the go, simply by scanning any product’s barcode with the phone’s built-in camera. Using this information, GoCart searches the Web for the best prices on the product, displaying the lowest prices online as well as at nearby brick-and-mortar retailers (identified through GPS and reverse geocoding).

GoCart looks up product reviews to further assist with purchase decisions. The application also allows users to set price alerts; create wish lists and publish them to social networking sites; and to keep a history of scanned products for future reference.

“The problem with price comparison Web sites is that they’re never around when you need them,” explains Rylan Barnes, the Big in Japan co-founder who led GoCart’s development. “GoCart empowers consumers with information while they are actually out doing their shopping. They can get reviews instantly, discover what online retailers are charging, and find out if a nearby store is selling a product cheaper.”

GoCart will be available to consumers through Google’s Android Market when the first Android-powered handsets are introduced commercially later this year.

About Big in Japan

Big in Japan Inc. is a Dallas-based idea factory for mobile applications, building software for Google’s open-source Android platform and Apple’s iPhone. Big in Japan’s GoCart application – a personal shopping assistant – will be available on Android-powered handsets later this year.

Information Source:    Business Wire