Launched on 3rd September, the stamps are the first in the world to work with image recognition technology, which, when activated by a smartphone on the iPhone or Android platforms, will launch exclusive online content created by Royal Mail.
Philip Parker, Royal Mail Stamps spokesperson says: "This is the first time a national postal service has used this kind of technology on their stamps and we’re very excited to be bringing intelligent stamps to the nation’s post.
"Intelligent stamps mark the next step in the evolution of our stamps, bringing them firmly into the 21st century. Royal Mail’s special stamps mark key events and anniversaries in the UK’s heritage, through a programme which aims to be both educational and informative. Through Intelligent Stamp technology, our stamps will open up to a whole new world of information, interest and fun to collectors and the millions of people who will receive them on letters in the coming months alike."
The first Intelligent Stamp will be issued as part of the Great British Railways special stamps issue. For the launch, Royal Mail has delved into its rich cultural history and created a short film of Bernard Cribbins reading W H Auden’s poem, The Night Mail - first made famous in The Post Office’s own film from 1936.
Bernard Cribbins says: "WH Auden wrote the Night Mail poem in 1936 for the Post Office’s own blockbuster film of the same name, which has, for years, remained in the hearts and minds of many. I’m excited to be bringing it to a brand new audience, and to help take Royal Mail Stamps into a new era by using state of the art interactive technology."
Intelligent stamp technology is free to use and will be available on selected future special stamp issues.
How to use the Intelligent Stamp
Using an intelligent stamp is really simple. All users need to do is go to the app store on their smartphone and search for the JUNAIO application. Junaio works on both iPhone and Android phones. iPhone users will find the app in the iTunes store and Android users need to go to the Android Market. The application is free of charge and you can easily download it to your phone, just as you would any other app.
Once you have downloaded the Junaio application, open it and then go to the Royal Mail Channel and select the Great British Railways logo.
Once this has been activated, the phone will then open its camera. Place the camera over the stamp image as if you were taking a photo of the stamp. When the stamp is recognised, the exclusive Royal Mail content will run automatically.
The Intelligent Stamp works on iPhone 3GS and 4 - with OS4 platform.
