Japanese carrier KDDI is launching a visual search application on its Spring 2008 range of “au”  handsets.  The app, called ER Search, was developed by Evolution Robotics and is operated by Bandai networks, who have already installed it on more than a million handsets in the past twelve months.  Described as “hyperlinking the physical world”, ER Search allows users to take photographs of books, CDs, DVDs and other items and then view content based on software recognition of that image.

Taking a photo of a CD, for instance, could pull up price comparisons from online stores (with the ability to buy direct from the handset), links to the artist’s back catalogue and even lyrics from featured songs.  Audio and video clips would also be available.  The software is being offered as a free download to owners of earlier “au” model cellphones; Bandai apparently funds the system via referral fees.

ER Search is similar to the idea of ‘augmented reality’, whereby real-world objects are tagged with real-time data on a mobile device.  Enkin, a recent entry in Google’s Android Developer Challenge promises just that, with GPS and motion data used for real-time object/building tracking.  However Enkin goes farther than ER Search, as it works in real-time rather than from snapshots.

[via mocoNews]