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Why QR Codes Will Be Big Business in the U.S.
Earlier this week we took a look at Google’s Real World Hyperlinks. Yesterday Japanese blogger Satoko Hibi who took a look at the QR barcode scene in Japan. Today, in the third piece in the series, I’d like to take a look at why these barcodes will take off in the U.S.
Years ago during Web 1.0, Digital Convergence Corporation produced a device named CueCat. The privacy police were all over this device from the beginning. I though the idea was brilliant but clearly others disagreed. The idea was strong, the execution was poor. The CueCat would scan barcodes in magazines and then send you to a Web site for more information. Joel Spolsky has a review of the device from 2000 which is worth reading. In the end, the device (and the company) failed.
Today we have a new barcode technology, called QR Code, coming to newspapers, magazines and outdoor advertisements. The big difference between the CueCat in 2000 and today’s QR code is mobile. In Joel’s review, he displays a barcode on an advertisement for Altoids and suggests that typing in that URL is easy. But what if you are out and about? The power of the QR codes comes because it works with your mobile device not some mouse-shaped ugly-as-ass scanner. It’s easy. Joel also goes on to say that the CueCat is a chicken-egg syndrome – advertisers won’t want to put the doofy looking codes in their ads unless enough people have CueCats installed (which was a complete pain in the rump). Today, the software is built into mobile so none of Joel’s arguments work today.
The next reason QR codes will be a game changer is because they work for information too. For example, Wikipedia displays their QR code on the Wikipedia site. I could also see QR codes as a potential business card replacement. You are at a business meeting, you whip out your mobile and the other party does as well. You "scan" her barcode displayed on the mobile and now you have all of her contact information and not only is it stored in your mobile, but it’s now on your desktop in your contact manager. Imagine the possibilities for dating!
Finally, the QR codes will work from a marketing perspective because it allows people to pull ads that they are interested in rather than push advertising that is used today. See that ad for Coke? Scan the code and it downloads the Coke ringtone. Even something as simple as replacing the store shopper cards could be handled with QR codes. Teenagers will eat this technology up.
I am very much looking forward to seeing the codes invade the U.S. as they are overseas. As a marketer, I see endless possibilities for connecting brands with consumers. On the business side, there are clear ways that the codes could become time savers. Mobile technology is changing the way we interact, QR codes will take interactions to another level. Of course the U.S. is years behind the rest of the world with regards to mobile technology so by the time the codes become mainstream here, the rest of the world will be on to something else. Let’s get moving!
How do you see QR codes being used effectively or do you see them as just another cuecat, destined for failure?
I think they are Dutch, though I am not sure. I discovered that around two years ago, or maybe even longer. A couple people used them excessively in Berlin – back at the time the shotcodes were also free and it was fun to figure them out.
I think they lost the momentum, when they started charging. Though their blog mentioned Nike etc.. But the idea is still pretty cool. :)
Hi
just to agree that the 2D barcodes including QR codes become inescapable…
We have just launched yesterday our first appli. for SN in Facebook “TMS Search” to link web desktop directly to mobile and to develop awareness of 2D barcodes and TMS services.
This appli. let you preview a site behind a 2D barcode and send it (in 1 click) to your mobile to share it with friends anytime anywhere and let you also create your own mobile goods and its barcode …try some code in “Code feed” section and have fun.
the PR here http://www.pr-inside.com/mobitms-unveil-the-launching-in-facebook-r428305.htm
Keep an eye on the Mobile Codes Consortium (MC2)
http://www.mobilecodes.org
This is one of those things that needs a little more infrastructure and maybe a few ‘games’ to get people aware of what QRCodes do, something like a viral game in the Trent Reznor sense.
The infrastructure required is simple… someone needs to create a free flash app that will input form information, like a address book entry and spit out vector and bitmap qrcode for download. Then, designers will be able to implement them easier. Search for Free QR Code generator right now and it’s not going to yield much, unless you dig deep. It needs to be free to do, simple simple simple. There may be a time when blog software and URL shrinking sites could generate them on the fly for your URLS as plugins or on request. Then you are really cooking with gas.
And every phone with a camera should have had this long ago. Webcams too. It’s irresponsible that it has taken this long. I can’t even upgrade my razr from 2 years ago to read them, and it’s been available for like 10 years now elsewhere. Phones often come from Asia, you’d think the app to read qr would be there more frequently. Sadly, phones and their software is quite pathetic considering how much work has been put into them.
I used a QR code on my business card this year and when I was in Japan, only a couple people out of the 30 I gave it to knew what it was. Not every phone there scanned it properly, but most did. But QR is worlds better than those pompous bizcard scanners you can buy from skymall. Instead just photograph the code with your phone and it’s captured. Conceivably, movie theaters could display it too on screen during slideshows and commercials and you could snap from the seat.
Here’s where it’s also needed, as part of all the nutrition information that can’t fit on packaging. QRCodes can handle a surprising amount of data for their size. The larger is something like 250 characters.
It’s kind of silly to say “They will be big business” What exactly does that mean? It should just be seamless, part of life and design where it’s useful. It should be open and free for everyone to use. Why does it have to be “big business” Nobody says “the color blue will be big business this year.” An accurate headline for the point made would be “Use of QRCodes should and will finally grow in the US” or “QRCodes will stop being ignored for once, and their usefulness praised and exploited”
http://www.smickworks.com/index.php?n=Main.QrCodes
The :CueCat was a revolutionary product launched back in 2000 that came way before its time. It had tremendous disruptive potential from a technology standpoint, but the drawback with the :CueCat was that it was a “tethered” device — meaning the user could only scan barcodes while seated in front of their personal computer. The customer had no mobility and could not take the device with them.
Did you know the company behind the :CuCat, Digital Convergence, licensed the patent portfolio of NeoMedia Technologies before launching the :CueCat? Flash forward to today, mobile barcode reading is an everyday part of the popular culture in Japan. The technology is just now beginning to emerge in Europe with North America not too far behind. The reason why mobile code-reading is flourishing today, is because the mobile phone is portable and it can be carried with you at all times.
NeoMedia is the company behind the mobile code-reading application, NeoReader. Based off the award winning Lavasphere technology developed in Germany by Gavitec, the NeoReader features NeoMedia’s patented resolution technology combined with Gavitec’s ultra-small footprint and platform independent algorithms. It is able to read and decipher all common non-proprietary 2D codes (Data Matrix, QR, Aztec, Maxi) as well as URL embedded 2D codes and all 1D UPC/EAN/Code 128 open source codes. The NeoReader supports direct and indirect code linking, which guarantees maximum interoperability with already existing platforms like 2D Data Matrix Semacodes, and Japanese QR links. This allows the user to click on a variety of codes with a single application installed on their mobile device.
The NeoReader ushers in and inaugurates a brand new era of innovative mobile enterprise and optical code reading solutions for the wireless industry. Visit get.neoreader.com to download the free application, and instantly transform your mobile phone into a universal code reader.
http://www.neoreader.com
Coming from the supply chain industry, it is interesting to see interest in this technology for consumer-oriented marketing purposes. Both QR Codes and Semacodes are both given by ISO standards (ISO 18004 and 16022 , respectively). That is not to say there are not patents issues; according to wikipeda, Japan-based Denso-Wave Inc. holds the trademark on QR Codes (and possibly patent, though they don’t exercise it…).
What is not revealed is the required camera spec. QR Codes have the ability to hold almost 3K bits, but I doubt it is easy for even a 2M pixel camera to obtain data when packed that tightly. Most people do not have such a camera on their phone, and typical phones can probably only discern QR Codes containing 800 bits of data or less. The business case seems less interesting in that case when a device must connect to the internet and do a DB lookup to find out the data behind the code because the QR Code can only hold a URL, not much data itself.
Anyone more knowledgeable, please chime in.
wow – great reply! never thought about the patent issue – will check it out. I think these codes really will change things…
I just made a QR code for my contact info, Name, Email, Phone, and my 1.3mp camera read it fine.
I just don’t see these catching on, just as web TV will not for a long time like it has in South Korea.
Both will not take off because you have to pay a lot for internet usage on cell phones and most consumers don’t want to pay for phones in the first place. The countries that are on open platforms, without locking or OS specifications (Verizon) are the ones that see all of the improvements.
Notice how 2006 was the year this was ‘going’ to happen, and we’re now in 2008.
… check out: http://www.shotcode.com/
Very cool – any idea where they are based? It doesn’t have any location info on the site.