TinEye, the first image-to-image search engine developed by Canadian technology company Idée, will soon release a beta mobile application for the Apple iPhone. Though much testing and Apple’s approval are needed before the app is broadly available, Idée’s approach to the mobile space gives a glimpse of the technology’s general-consumer potential.
Idée’s first mobile release is TinEye Music, which offers on-the-go buyers a type-less way to preview music before buying it. It works like this: You take a picture of a CD cover with your iPhone, and TinEye finds the album in the iTunes music store, where you can preview songs and make a purchase.
The app uses the same visual-search algorithms as TinEye the search engine, which has now indexed over 1 billion online images. Though TinEye Music is an iPhone-only application, Idée promises that future TinEye releases will support multiple smartphones. The company also plans to develop similar mobile applications for books, movies and games.