eBay acquires barcode scanning app for iPhone

EBay said Thursday that it will acquire RedLaser, a barcode scanning application for the iPhone and related assets from Occipital.

Red Laser has 2 million downloads and is one of the more popular barcode scanning applications. EBay also said it will immediately make Red Laser a free app on the iPhone and increase its selection with 200 million listings and product details from Shopping.com.

Here's a look at Red Laser:

EBay didn't disclose terms of the deal (blog post), but the move signals that the company is looking to get a little more mobile and acquire the technology it needs to be a bigger app player. EBay has an iPad app and generates $1.5 billion in gross merchandise volume from its mobile apps.

According to eBay the plan is to integrate Red Laser's technology with its eBay applications---eBay Marketplace, eBay Selling, StubHub and Shopping.com. The general idea is that eBay's 10 million users could integrate the comparison shopping tools from Red Laser into their listings. The company's eBay Selling app will be the first iPhone app to use the barcode scanning technology.