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Information about QR Codes, their importance in the modern world, and answer to some trending questions related to the topic which can help.Introduction
Just a few die-hard sites are giving quick links to downloading software to mobile devices. QR Codes have been around since the 1990s and have hardly set the world alight; outside Asia, I hardly ever see them used for sales and marketing campaigns, and when I do, it's usually a customer coming to me with a poorly thought out campaign.
Qr Code Softwares :
We had a customer whose QR Code plan went something along the lines of... "A user will see our advert for a product, they'll come to our website using their browser, download a QR Code reader, then they'll be able to take a picture of our QR Code which will take them to our microsite where they can download the software." If a user has to visit your site to download something to go back to your site, you have a problem. They missed the point of QR Codes being quick links to a website and not an interactive medium.
I was surprised to read on InventorSpot that Facebook is investigating using QR Codes that will link to a user's profile or status feed. The article talks about the issues this raises with privacy and how QR Codes are going to make Facebook millions in advertising. Augment provides you complete information about augmented reality and Qr Codes.
The plan is, you as a user, will have the option to use your QR Code on business cards, tee-shirts, or whatever, and friends will be able to access your Facebook page just by taking a photo of your code. The good thing about QR Codes is that hundreds of readers span lots of devices, but I can't help thinking it's investing in the wrong technology.
Consider two options:
you can have a tee-shirt with a QR Code that links to your Facebook Status feed. Users take a photo of your tee-shirt and get redirected to your Facebook page. Or you can have a marker that displays content directly on the tee-shirt with optional 3D animation. Which do you choose?
The InventorSpot article promotes the enormous potential for advertising where every product has its QR Code placed discreetly in the advertisement. You know the kind of thing where a billboard has an advert for the latest must-have gadget, and in the corner will be a QR Code linking you to the website. I'm sure that was the goal when QR Codes were first introduced, but they have had their chance, and they failed (in the West at least). They are no match for today's augmented reality solutions.
Augmented Reality Applications :
Today we have mobile augmented reality applications that can recognize full-color advertisements. For example, Nokia's Point & Find enables a user to take a photo of a movie poster and watch a trailer, book tickets at nearby cinemas (courtesy of GPS), or read reviews. Advertisers don't even need to do anything special. Pong is another solution that can recognize any billboard advertisement or product logo (as long as it is uploaded to their database) and give the user contextual information.
Coming full circle and back to Facebook and poorly implemented QR Campaigns, InventorSpot gave the scenario was:
"Scan a product on any Facebook page and you will get an immediate offer where you could purchase' said' item on the spot. Advertisers in turn would pay Facebook profit of 30% off every sale, using their normal Facebook Credit' commissionable' model."
I could be on your Facebook page, see something I like, go downstairs to find my phone, come back upstairs, take a picture with my phone, be redirected to the product page, browser it on my tiny phone screen, and enter my details using T9. Or I could use my mouse to click the link.
QR Codes have their place as a quick linking tool for mobile devices, not as a rich sales/marketing tool; it's time to let them go and embrace the future.
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