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Mashable’s Spark of Genius series highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, see details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.
Name: Key Ring
Quick Pitch: Never carry plastic loyalty cards again. Download “Key Ring Reward Cards” for free on your iPhone or Android device.
Genius Idea: Key Ring, a mobile loyalty card application for iPhone and Andriod made by Mobestream Media, serves the same purpose as other apps such as CardStar — mitigating loyalty card buildup.
Consumers tend to carry around cards for retailers or venues they frequent on a regular basis, including gyms, boutiques, drug stores and grocery stores. The Key Ring Rewards Card application makes a digital copy of those cards so that you can leave the physical cards at home.
You can download the free app and use it to scan the barcodes on your loyalty and club cards. To get started, select “Add Card” and click yes or no to specify whether or not the card in question has a barcode. If it does, the app will then let you scan the barcode, identify the retailer and create a digital copy. If the card doesn’t have a barcode, you can manually input the membership ID in lieu of the barcode scan.
After inputting all your cards, you’re left with a single mobile phone repository of all your various cards. When visiting any of the retailers you’ve created mobile loyalty cards for, you can simply have them scan the barcode from your phone to retrieve your account information.
The Key Ring offering is simple and painless. The service even includes an online account manager and card backup system. Eventually users will be able to password-protect individual cards. Mobestream Media is also planning to partner with businesses and retailers to offer King Ring-specific loyalty programs for real-time coupons or discounts.
Practically speaking, Key Ring is a simple way to get rid of the paper and plastic cards weighing down your wallet.
Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.
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The only problem is that the barcode doesn’t scan.
Hey there Roger, one of the Key Ring developers here. So to address scanning success rates… when you combine the variables of phone type, scanner type, and ambient lighting it can result in situations where the phone won’t scan. We do take some lumps for this. In situations where a scanner won’t work most people are ok with typing in the number, they simply don’t want to carry any more cards around. Others are not, and that’s ok too.
The good news is that technology to scan a barcode off any type of phone is available today. Scanners at places like CVS, Target, Toys R US, and Kroger work very well – others are catching up. While it’s not going to happen overnight, we think this is where things are going.
Just FYI – starting next month we will begin rolling out loyalty programs which you can enroll in directly from Key Ring. These will all be certified to work at the point of sale leaving no doubt in a users mind if it will work.
Does anyone ever carry these around anyways? I always just give out my phone number rather than carry around the key rings. Interesting concept but I would rather just give out my phone number than my iPhone.
And when the clumsy clerk drops my phone and cracks the screen? Not gonna happen. I’m not handing my phone to anybody for any reason. They can look up my “loyalty” card with my phone number, just like they do now.
then just hold up the phone for them to scan?
Only problem is that the barcodes don’t scan.
I love it, but does it work across the board? I’m just afraid of tossing cards that the store’s barcode readers can’t read.
Hi there, I left a comment above talking about scan success criteria which should help provide you with a little more info.
Also just so you know something else we provide via http://my.keyringapp.com is the ability to print off a sheet of all the barcodes on your phone. You can fold that up and store it in your wallet just in case.
can this type of thing not be built into 4sq! that would be much more useful
Why would this be built into Foursquare?
so you can check-in via a barcode scan at a venue instead of trying to locate it over the network.
So you’d like Foursquare to have interfaces with the CRM systems for all major retail companies and generating queries whenever someone tries to check-in ? ;)
Then you’d relate the location check-in to a specific cashier check-in ? ;)
Ah, I think you mean that their should be a venue barcode at the door which you can scan, making check-ins easier and not requiring a GPS/tower fix. This would be separate from the point of the article above, but still a useful idea.
How can you call this a “genius idea” when there are dozens of apps out there that do this already? This is nothing new, and many grocery scanners can’t scan the on-screen barcodes.
You aren’t kidding… “genius idea” – come on now… I’ve been called lots of things but genius has never been one of them. We should petition Microsoft to change this to the “Meh Idea” series.
All kidding aside, we’ve been working on this for over a year now. We started on Android and just released for iPhone a couple months back. You are correct in that there have been a bunch of me-too apps trying to do the same thing. If however you look in the Android Market or iTunes App Store you’ll see we are in the top 25 of our category in both places. Geniuses we are not, but we are pretty proud of that.
If it is the same or similar to CardStar, another app that already does this, why is it part of the Genius Series?
I think for this to be “genius” it needs to provide something new – or at least better than the best in the category. CardStar is the best so far in this category. Deals + Foursquare integration.
card star has been doing this for ages and it sucks, mainly because it doesn’t work.
cashiers often get freaked out when you use it for one. they think you are using a fake card or something.
next, when you do manage to convince them to scan it, it never scans. the screens on smartphones are glossy, hence scanners reflect right off.
lol, it even *looks* like cardstar. design fail
Oh great, now our iPhone developer is despondent. He’s just sitting there staring at his dog-eared copy of the iPhone Human Interface Guidelines wondering what went wrong. There’s only way to fix this, we must get him to the Apple Store post-haste!!
Like others, I’ve found that the barcodes just don’t scan. Fantastic idea and I’m so pleased that they support UK retailers, but ultimately a dud until the scanning problem gets sorted.
Is it to do with phone displays and/ or resolution?
I have gotten CardStar to work 1 time at LA Fitness,
That would only work for barcode based loyalty cards. Around here, many have RFID ;)
this is genius! http://www.thisheartsonfire.com now what if you forget your phone, though?
All my loyalty and reward cards are chip based, not a single one has a bar code…
Truth is that this only works when someone can scan your phone with a single line barcode scanner. Most places use the one in the counter that has the swirling bar code reader, rendering this software useless.
There are 2 types of barcode readers that retailers are currently using: laser and optical. The laser readers won’t read the screens from mobile devices. Optical readers will. Starbucks and Target are using the optical technology to scan mobile devices. Soon the technology will be a must for retailers. The optical readers cost about $150 each. Just a matter of time before the update occurs. I will certainly welcome it. I’m tired of carrying all the plastic.
Funny that you have this app. As I was digging for my Office Depot card (which the clerk managed to twist off of my keyring), I thought how convenient a service this would be if it existed. Guess y’all are ahead of me. Unfortunately, I do NOT have the internet on my cell phone…. so perhaps you should also work with the major companies to see if they can come up with a universal bar code I can carry on my keyring instead of the 15 I have now! Thanks.
Some of my cards use chips, and others need to be swiped. A good idea, but it’s been done before
This app is pretty rad. I’m on board with anything that reduces the size of my wallet and clutter on my keys. I think out of the 10-15 barcodes I scanned, I only had an issue reading one. Eventually it scanned, just took a few tries and finally adjusted the lighting to get a clear view of the barcode. I tried it out at a few retailers around town and didn’t have an issue with them scanning off the phone – although most times the clerk was confused when I handed them my phone. Thanks for helping with the continued digitization of my life…
I didn’t think this would work cause the screen is constantly emitting light versus paper where the black barcode lines don’t reflect light back.. Guess I’m wrong
This app doesn’t work at Zipps *tear*
Damn! I’ve recently been considering developing something similar to this.
Part of the revenue model I had was partnering with stores that offer loyalty cards and offering:
1. Sign up of new discount cards via the app – This saves the store money because they don’t have to retype the users information. They also don’t have to issue a physical card if the barcode is generated internally.
2. Offer a mapping service – Using GPS allow the user to find the nearest stores that accept a given loyalty card.
Hope you’re successful,
I’ve tried these apps on my Droid with mixed success. Frankly, I’d rather not hand my nice phone to the cashier. I got a TagWrap which keeps all my tags organized in a neat bundle. Now I get my discounts without having a huge mess on my keychain, and my phone is safe.
Personally, the likelihood of me switching wallets that day and forgetting my reward cards in the other wallet are greater than me forgetting my phone. I’d take the risk!