electronrun.com

Airlines are already aware of the virtues of 2D barcodes and we will possibly see airline electronic boarding passes in the near future. Google has been quick to foresee the advantages of 2D barcodes, one of them being that a mobile telephone with a camera can read it, and with the right software automatically convert it to a conventional web address for immediate access.

Although simple as a concept, it is an ingenious way to bridge printed material with the web, where for the moment Google is unmatched. Barcodes could give instant access not only to web pages but also to very specifically targeted ads, depending on date or geography. And all this with maximum comfort, without even typing a single character of a web address.

2D barcodes exist from the 80s and are so far utilised mostly in industry. It was in 1999 that the Japanese Denso-Wave came up with the idea of reading a barcode photo with a mobile telephone. Since then, Japan has become the only market where 2D barcodes are widely used. Of course, the fact that the rest of the world has largely not even heard of or seen any of these codes presents a formidable obstacle.

With the arrival of the Internet on permanently connected devices this year, it is easy to see Google’s crave to make 2D barcodes more widespread. The conversion software already exists, Kaywa and Nokia being good examples. However, the fact that very few mobile telephones include the software is a problem. 2D barcodes are currently available for advertisers in 225 American journals, including the New York Time and Washington Post, unfortunately an effort without any major impact.

As the media battle extends to intelligent mobile devices, the inclusion of 2D barcode processing capabilities in Google’s new Android mobile OS is a no-brainer. But Android’s market penetration is for now uncertain and wide adoption would require a coordinated effort by all software and device suppliers.

In addition, maybe traditional media companies have no intention to give away even more power to the web and especially Google. Depending on a purely web company for customer access to ad material could possibly be disastrous for a sector that already faces shrinking readership and ad inflow. But as publications go, all this could be irrelevant as we might well bypass paper completely with the new generation of mobile Internet and e-paper.

Irrespective of media evolution, 2D barcodes remain a strong and versatile proposition for obtaining information quickly and effortlessly. Mobile device manufacturers could easily integrate 2D barcode capability in all devices thanks to the low requirements of one camera -standard these days- and the associated software. It would be beneficial to all of us -take it as a special wish if you like- if this technology came to the service of everybody without being associated to a specific advertising platform or search engine. Let’s hope that market forces will take care of this for us.

Link 1: Google

Link 2: Ecrans

Link 3: Mobile cross media