... they want biodegradable packaging, or nominate the ingredients or products they want to assemble for a meal.
Explains IBM's John Kennedy, VP-corporate marketing: "You specify the things you're interested in, and then using your device and the video camera on the device, as you scan the product the app will recognize it and superimpose the information you're looking for on the product itself. Therefore, it brings more information to bear on the decision."
Kennedy says that the app, developed by IBM researchers in Israel, "marries the wealth of information on the web so the shopping experience becomes more informative and personal to help [shoppers] make better decisions."
But perhaps most significantly, according to Kennedy, the technology also "opens questions about what can happen in the relationship between the retailer and shopper and ultimately the [brand] marketer."
He declined to say which retailers are testing the app or when it might become widely available.