[innes]

And let me explain how Barcode Scanner (or something like it) combined with Google Wallet will make my life as a consumer more productive

Yep, this will really speed things up.

Instead of scanning items on the way out, (i.e. "beep...beep...beep...beep...beep") people will scan as they shop "okay... just line up the cameraaaa... hmm it's not seeing it, turn the phone a bit... oh i beg your pardon hang on [moves out of the way of another shopper who also wants a can of baked beans]... [phone grabs barcode]... ah finally... beep." - one can of baked beans purchased.

Can't wait!

Also, given how fragile self-scanning checkouts are - presumably calibrated to prevent shoplifting - how will scanning stuff yourself and then walking out with it be acceptable to supermarkets?

[wccrawford]

Have you tried the app in question? Even with the low quality cameras on the first Androids, it worked really well. On my 8MP camera now, it's insanely fast. And since everyone would be doing it as they picked things up, the lines to check out will be limited to making sure people didn't steal.

Having said all that, I think elimination of the traditional supermarket is more in line with what I want in the future. There was a startup on here that talked about having no customer-accessible store. The customer orders from home, drives up in their car, the store loads the order in the car and collects the money, and the customer drives home. Eliminating the customer's driving is a logistical nightmare, but I expect that will eventually be solved, too.

[innes]

Have you tried the app No I haven't - I've just used the 'standard' Android barcode scanner. So now I feel a bit sheepish given that I may have over-egged the pudding with that little scenario!

I've used internet supermarket shopping in the past, when I didn't own a car. It was reasonably good, and you paid £5 for delivery within a 2 hour window. You would tend to sometimes accidentally buy a weird size of some item though.

[cobrabyte]

I suppose they could use the scales that are integrated into current self-checkout stations to compare the aggregate weight of your purchase against what it should be.

Seems like a lot of hassle.