Future Files:A Scanner Quickly
Posted On: 01 March 2007 By: Jay Oatway Filed Under: Duelling Realities | Future-Stuff-That-Goes-Ping | Info-slavery | No Strings | Toys For Geeks
Living in a mobile society requires new ways to access information while on the move. The MIT Advertising Lab recently posted a excellent round-up of the hot new trend finally breaking out of Japan: QR codes. QR (which stands for Quick Response) codes are a new standard for barcodes that allow more information to be embedded.
Free software to enable your camera phone to read these QR codes can be found at QuickMark. Commercial versions can also be found by searching Google, but as we haven’t had a chance to test these yet, we won’t make any recommendations. (Although the Pondering Primate seems to like DuPont, in light of the recent scanning deal with ScanBuy)
QR Codes promise to be a lot of fun.
They can be any size, and printed on almost anything, as you can see here. This makes for a novel new form of guerrilla marketing that will no doubt become de rigeur at all major mobile tech conferences and exhibitions. After all, no true geek is going to pass up the open invitation to point his phone cam at sexy young booth girls.
They can also be used in outdoor advertising, instantly connecting your phone to mobile-ready websites, which according to Ogilvy:
Many spaces that people walk or drive past during the course of a day are considered static or limited in terms of their ability to communicate to customers. But the interactive opportunities brought about by wireless technology and encrypted data transfer are changing this. Direct response mechanisms can be built into previously static advertising spaces. The billboard in a train station or at a roadside that the commuter passes each morning and night now has the connectivity to "talk" to the commuter’s mobile phone and even make a sales offer to that phone.
And, as you’d expect, if you want to connect with the oldest profession, they are already up on the latest technology. Try pointing your phone lens at these escort ads:
Of course, there are competing barcode standards, but the betting money has been on QR ever since Microsoft announced last November that they would be throwing their weight behind the little square code. (However, it’s worth noting that Microsoft has taken down their Windows Live Barcode site in recent weeks. No word if this is a sign that Microsoft has shelved the project, or is just preparing for the much expected big launch of QR readers for Windows Mobile devices.)
The true value of a mobile device is in how it connects us with the world around us. Point, click, connect. What could be easier?
