Fashion Server

Let's pretend i'm better dressed than i am. I'm walking down the street and a stranger says "Hey, i like your t- shirt, where did you get it from?". Except he doesn't because he's a) British and b) A man. Hence this isn't even close to acceptable behaviour.

Instead he takes a photo on his mobile phone (nor is this acceptable i know, but this social acceptance thing is a bagatelle) and sends it to "fashion server". Here the photo is matched to a database of clothing items, each tagged with prices, retail outlets and availability. The info is sent back to him immediately and he pays some nominal amount for it, billed to his phone account, obviously.

Costs: 1) Half decent algorithm to match images taken under 'natural' lighting conditions (this is hardish i know, but the search space isn't that large and many items would be readily identifiable) 2) little bit of off the shelf technology for the telco set up & server 3) populating your database with details of clothing

Revenue generated by: users buying the info. If you got enough ppl using it, suppliers would pay to be up to date on your database since it's effectively free marketing. Your phone might also track your location and point you to the nearest store stocking the item. Stockists could compete for this info. You could also do some sell through with similar style items.

As the service became known, ppl would get used to having their photos sneakily taken and it would be a kind of compliment, not an irritating intrusion. Maybe.