A new Australian-invented smartphone app is being promoted to replace customer loyalty cards in restaurants, cafes, and shops in Australia. The Wealie iPhone app, created by Australian Patrick Schilling, was launched this week. The app is designed to replace some of the estimated 18 to 20 million loyalty cards that currently printed each year in Australia. After downloading the app, customers scan a Quick Response (QR) code in participating venues (QR codes are a type of matrix barcode, consisting... ...Read more »

One of Australia’s leading public health research bodies, The George Institute, has launched a new smartphone app which gives a Traffic Light rating based on the amount of total fat, saturated fat, sugars and sodium per 100 grams – green for ‘low’, amber for ‘medium’ and red for ‘high’. The new app, called ‘FoodSwitch’, is able to rate 20,000 packaged food products found in Australian supermarkets. The initiative is part of a new partnership with Bupa, one of Australia’s... ...Read more »

A free smartphone app, developed by the Western Australian State government agency Consumer Protection and called iShopWA, is now available for shoppers in the State of Western Australia to easily access information about their rights under the new Australian Consumer Law. WA’s Commerce Minister Simon O’Brien said this would be the first Christmas that West Australians have the protections of the new laws, and it was important that they knew their rights regarding refunds, warranties and lay-bys. “Many... ...Read more »

The Australian Food and Grocery Council, together with not-for-profit barcode standards body GS1 Australia, have called for industry support for their new smartphone app, GS1 GoScan, which will allow extended labelling of products via barcode scanning by consumers. Initially available for iPhone, GoScan has the capacity to list accurately a large amount of “real time” product data to consumers, including ingredients, nutritional content, RDI information, dietary statuses such as Kosher/Halal/Organic... ...Read more »

Australian pizza chain La Porchetta has announced the launch of a branded iPhone app, created by software development company itakeaway, as well as a multi-platform launch on itakeaway’s own apps. Using itakeaway’s technology, La Porchetta will be rolling out the system through more than 70 La Porchetta locations, in both Australia and New Zealand, to increase ordering and efficiency. In addition to its own branded iPhone app, launching April 1st, La Porchetta will incorporate the itakeaway... ...Read more »

Moccona is giving romantics a little help this Valentine’s Day with the launch of the free ‘Go Somewhere Special’ application, for iPhone users who are heading out on a date on February 14th. The iPhone application encourages people to embrace more romance and add an element of mystery when inviting their partner or a special someone on a date this Valentine’s Day. Through the use of augmented reality technology, the app will guide the chosen recipient to the date location with... ...Read more »

Welcome to the supermarkets of the future: self service checkouts, ‘Tap N Go’ card readers, new smartphone barcode scanning apps and trolleys complete with computers and GPS tracking.  They promise speed, convenience and even more information for customers and retailers. But just how useful are they? Consumer group CHOICE has reviewed these new innovations to see if they live up to the hype, by truly benefiting consumers and retailers. Self service checkouts allow consumers to scan,... ...Read more »

Tourism Victoria has unveiled the tenth edition of its official The Wine Regions of Victoria guide and, for the first time, it is also available in iPhone app format.The Wine Regions of Victoria app brings information about Victoria’s 22 wine regions and more than 240 wineries to wine lovers’ fingertips anywhere, anytime. Featuring enhanced mapping functionality, the new app also offers instant access to winery contact details; including websites, phone numbers and addresses, a ‘wineries... ...Read more »

Perth pizza lovers are more likely to order a pizza online compared to other Australians with almost aquarter of Eagle Boys store sales in the city now coming from online orders.  This compares to a national online ordering sales average of 15 per cent.Eagle Boys CEO Todd Clayton said he expected levels of online ordering to hit new highs this festive season given the high penetration of home internet and the growing smartphone market. “Latest sales figures show Perth customers are continuing... ...Read more »

Scan2List has recently announced the launch of their iPhone application into the Australian Market. Scan2List is a free Australian iPhone App that allows you to quickly and easily create shopping lists simply by scanning the barcodes of items in your pantry or manually adding them to a list. Lists can then be saved for future use and be synchronised with other Scan2List App users in the household. When at the shops, a list can be organised into aisles that match the layout of the store and items... ...Read more »