Here I'll give you a "real world hyperlink": print the damn URL in English so that I can remember it if I don't have my phone handy. If you're running a print ad you can afford a short snappy URL. Bonus, I can even use it on my laptop that doesn't have a QR code app! Or any other browser for that matter! The main problem I have with QR codes is that humans can't read them . Therefore, they will be relegated forever t…
> Here I'll give you a "real world hyperlink": print the damn URL in English so that I can remember it if I don't have my phone handy. Provide both then, because typing a URL is a pain on most mobiles, especially urls more than 5 characters. > If you're running a print ad you can afford a short snappy URL. What sense would it make? You have an existing brand and an existing site, why have to create a new brand and a…
If people are already running up against 5000 SMS/month limits on their phones, I'd wager that they can spend 20 keypresses typing in a URL for something interesting. Frankly, it's probably the same cognitive load as finding the QR decoder app, lining up a good shot, waiting for the white balance and focus to settle, hitting the shutter button, ...
> What sense would it make? You have an existing brand and an existing site, why have to create a new brand and a new site just to link to that?
Don't understand your point. I'm talking about making a short URL redirecting to whatever the QR code points at, maybe even off the company's existing domain. E.g., http://acme.com/foo
I can't speak to QR code usage in Japan or Korea, I just remember seeing them used in CS course material at my college and none of my fellow students ever used them. Those were real geeks, and they weren't even interested enough to try.
> Wait that has no relevance whatsoever to the previous half of the paragraph, you said "normal people" would always ignore QRCodes, but anyone can recognize a barcode and knows (at least roughly) what it's about.
There's a distinction between recognition, and being able to use them. As far as recognition goes very few non-techy people know what a QR code even does, because there is no obvious indication that it contains a URL. My point was that barcodes usually have the numbers below them and that (IMO) facilitated both consumers and cashiers understanding that it just contains a product number, as opposed to being the Evil Mark of Satan that the red beam reads. It is a more transparent system. I know it seems weird, but for non-geeks, being able to see what is going on is an important step in not demonizing new technology.
> Google Goggles can attempt to do that with all the power of Google behind it.
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure all the OCR is done client-side. And what's your point? A QR code containing a URL requires a device with a network connection to provide anything of immediate value.