You might or might not know about QR codes, they’re usually about the size of stamp and look a bit like bar codes. The QR code can store information such as urls, and can be read by mobiles, this means scan this code anywhere (e.g. in a magazine) with your mobile and be taken straight to the relevant website on your mobile browser.
For a little more info try here.
The QR code is huge in Japan and they can be found on food packaging to outdoor posters. They have even appeared in the UK in a few instances such as on pepsi cans, but never really taken off.
The concept has huge potential, such as it’s ability to allow the online and offline marketing channel to be truly linked, and the chance to provide real time feedback on offline ads.
Microsoft have clearly seen this potential, and decided they can own the idea in the US and beyond with their version of the idea called Microsoft tag. They’ve changed the technology very slightly, codes now make use of colour and apparently are more easily read by mobiles. What’s more QR code contains all the information within the code, whereas the Microsoft tag contains the directs you to the information. This means with microsoft tag you can change the url which the user is sent to after the code has been created, whereas with QR you cannot.
So it seems microsoft might have improved the technology, but for the concept to really take off in the US and Europe they need more people to have mobile handsets that can easily access the internet and ideally they need these handsets to read these codes without the user having go through the hassle of downloading the application or understanding how it works.
The financial power of microsoft, as well as people’s knowledge and faith in the microsoft brand, combined with the current rise of smartphone ownership might just see this kind of technology take off in the US and Europe this year.
3 Comments
January 27, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Improve, you say? Since the MS reader isn’t really a reader and the MS Tag doesn’t contain any information, then it no longer works without an internet connection, eliminating the segment of the market that doesn’t require a connection. But then agian what we all need is more advertising.
January 27, 2009 at 3:47 pm
I see your point, and I appreciate both QR and tag have their strengths and weaknesses. However, I don’t think it will be long until everything will be connected to the internet, so I don’t see that being a major hold back. I think the main hold back will be the fact that QR has already established itself in some parts of the globe, QR readers come as standard on phones from Japan and South Korea, and now new Nokia phones sold in the US and Europe, Microsoft will have to establish tag at another level.
May 18, 2009 at 3:41 pm
[...] there are some very similar alternatives to the QR code, these include the datamatrix code and the Microsoft Tag. Either a single code needs to be established or code readers need to be able to read all types of [...]