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American Business: Cracking the QR Code

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Re: American Business: Cracking the QR Code

#2

Post by rajpaul »

That is a great video. Before watching it I didn't understand QR codes at all.

As a consumer, I've never used a QR code in my life. If companies reward users for using QR codes with discounts, as the video suggests, I would use it.

Also, now I understand why a business would want to use QR codes. They help the businesses to track the effectiveness of advertising.

Re: American Business: Cracking the QR Code

#3

Post by hamiltonchan »

rajpaul wrote: post #2

That is a great video. Before watching it I didn't understand QR codes at all. As a consumer, I've never used a QR code in my life. If companies reward users for using QR codes with discounts, as the video suggests, I would use it. Also, now I understand why a business would want to use QR codes. They help the businesses to track the effectiveness of advertising.

Thanks, rajpaul, for the positive feedback!

Re: American Business: Cracking the QR Code

#5

Post by eggbrain »

As a consumer, I hate QR codes. They totally obfuscate what is going to happen -- Many times there is little to no information about where a QR code will send me.

As an iPhone user, I also need to download an app to read the QR codes, and suddenly I now have another choice to make -- which app is the best quality and least spammy of the ones listed.

As a designer, I also think they are quite ugly -- Try putting one of these into your beautifully designed billboard/magazine and it looks pretty terrible.

The business side of me appreciates the metrics that come from this, but I think QR is a stopgap technology until RFID readers become mainstream.

Re: American Business: Cracking the QR Code

#6

Post by teamlaft »

rajpaul wrote: post #2

That is a great video. Before watching it I didn't understand QR codes at all. As a consumer, I've never used a QR code in my life. If companies reward users for using QR codes with discounts, as the video suggests, I would use it. Also, now I understand why a business would want to use QR codes. They help the businesses to track the effectiveness of advertising.

Check out Social Passport (www.socialpassport.net) as it will be totally up your alley. For consumers it creates a QR code which stores all of your social networking information for instant scanning to Like, Tweet, or Checkin somewhere, and then also serves as a digital loyalty card and e-coupon. Merchants incentivize users to get their Social Passports scanned through discounts, contests, and giveaways, and in return send a customized message to a user's entire social network.

Re: American Business: Cracking the QR Code

#7

Post by spacemanaki »

kellysutton wrote: post #4

See: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000037.html

And this: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/01/29.html

"People have camera phones with web browsers now. Some things are still the same: typing URLs is not hard ... "

Actually it is.

The problem with Joel's argument is that I don't think he's ever tried to type a URL on a phone. It was an infuriating exercise in 2008 when he wrote that post, and it's an infuriating exercise today, even on the iPhone and on my Android phone.

I use a QR code as a quick link to deploy a new build of an app I'm working on to an Android device, and it's definitely easier then firing up the browser and painfully navigating to our CI server.

Re: American Business: Cracking the QR Code

#8

Post by cobrabyte »

eggbrain wrote: post #5

As a consumer, I hate QR codes. They totally obfuscate what is going to happen -- Many times there is little to no information about where a QR code will send me. As an iPhone user, I also need to download an app to read the QR codes, and suddenly I now have another choice to make -- which app is the best quality and least spammy of the ones listed. As a designer, I also think they are quite ugly -- Try putting one o…

Can you print an RFID tag? Can an RFID tag be read off of a billboard? I like RFIDs but I don't think they'll completely replace QR codes.

I agree that marketers should explicitly tell you what a scanned QR code is going to do.

I've found i-nigma's iPhone app to be the fastest (free) scanner. Blazingly so.

QR codes were never designed for public consumption and look quite digital. I like the trend of 'designer QR codes' and error-correction within the QR code's data payload allows for a certain amount of design freedom.

Re: American Business: Cracking the QR Code

#9

Post by bradleyland »

cobrabyte wrote: post #8
eggbrain wrote: post #5

As a consumer, I hate QR codes. They totally obfuscate what is going to happen -- Many times there is little to no information about where a QR code will send me. As an iPhone user, I also need to download an app to read the QR codes, and suddenly I now have another choice to make -- which app is the best quality and least spammy of the ones listed. As a designer, I also think they are quite ugly -- Try putting one o…

Can you print an RFID tag? Can an RFID tag be read off of a billboard? I like RFIDs but I don't think they'll completely replace QR codes. I agree that marketers should explicitly tell you what a scanned QR code is going to do. I've found i-nigma's iPhone app to be the fastest (free) scanner. Blazingly so. QR codes were never designed for public consumption and look quite digital . I like the trend of 'designer QR co…

I'm really baffled as to why you're being down-voted. QR codes and RFIDs share some aspects in common, but the points you outlined are the most relevant differences.

RFID also has the issue of discoverability. In order for someone to know that they should scan for RFID, there would need to be some visual indicator. The only reduction in user friction would be the fact that they need not point their phone at the indicator.

Re: American Business: Cracking the QR Code

#10

Post by gravitronic »

eggbrain wrote: post #5

As a consumer, I hate QR codes. They totally obfuscate what is going to happen -- Many times there is little to no information about where a QR code will send me. As an iPhone user, I also need to download an app to read the QR codes, and suddenly I now have another choice to make -- which app is the best quality and least spammy of the ones listed. As a designer, I also think they are quite ugly -- Try putting one o…

The best summary of QR codes that I have heard is "they solve a marketer's problem, not a consumer's problem".
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