E-Commerce company eBay plans to introduce image-recognition technology to its mobile offerings. The company has also announced a new platform ‘X.commerce’ for developers and unveiled a partnership with Facebook to develop a social network-based shopping model.
Speaking at eBay’s X.commerce conference in San Francisco, CEO John Donahoe revealed that the company is planning to roll out image-recognition feature for its mobile offerings.
Image-recognition feature allows users to snap photos of things they have seen. It then scans and compares the item with those in the database and comes out with suggestions.
Donahoe said eBay plans to introduce the feature by the end of the year.
Donahoe also said that eBay is trying to encourage software developers to create applications for its e-Commerce platforms. At the conference, eBay launched X.commerce, its new platform aimed at developers, along with a PayPal Access online identity program.
"We expect technology to change commerce more in the next three years than in the past 15," said Donahoe.
"This creates a tremendous global opportunity for developers and merchants alike," he said. "With X.commerce, we’ve created an open ecosystem that is the most complete set of commerce capabilities on the planet."
eBay also intends to harness the potential of shopping on social networking sites. Facebook executive and eBay board member Katie Mitic announced a partnership between the two companies designed to create new e-Commerce model with social networking features.