Would You Rather, Really, Thumb It?

There was a blogger who once wrote about how QR Code would never take off in United States because technology, in the form of cell phones, would never catch up. He contended that in the US, there is an extremely low usage for iPhones and other types of smart phones. So, is it true that the US market will never see the adoption of QR Code technology and that we will continue to thumb our way on those minuscule keypads on our cell phones to find a link? We don’t think so. The benefits of using the QR Code is too big to ignore.

While mobile phone manufacturers in other parts of the world are beginning to install a QR Code reader into cell phones before release, American cell phone companies have yet to promise the same. Having the reader pre-installed into the phone helps the situation – this means users do not have to look for, download and install the programs into their phone. The less complicated it is, the faster people will use it.

For those who are not familiar with what the QR Code is, ‘QR’ stands for quick response. It looks like a big mesh to black and white boxes and dots but in effect, it is a powerful barcoding system that can hold far more data than our conventional barcode. QR Codes can be scanned with your normal camera phone and then decoded by a QR Code reader. The system is so versatile that it can contain a message, a business card, a link to a website, blog, online content or a download link. Big brand names have spent some time test-driving promotional campaigns involving the use of QR Codes. Some of them are using it as a mobile coupon while airlines are offering their paperless ticketing system for domestic flights. Flash your code on your phone and fly – fantastic concept, don’t you think?

It is crucial for cell phone makers to get their stuff together if we are ever to see a usage rise in the USA. Once Americans see how perfectly simple using QR Code is, they will never, EVER go back to punching out complicated URLs manually. What is troubling with each promotion held is that these advertisers are not merely promoting their products/services/movie/music per se. Whenever they launch a QR Code campaign, it becomes their responsibility to educate people on how to make use of the QR Code and because of the indifferent consumers, the advertisers spend a considerable amount of time teaching them how to find the right QR Code reader and then how to make use of it.

And there is one more reason why QR Codes will be big soon and that is this – short, memorable domain names are running out. Soon, we will have to use sub domain names or long domain names. In this case, it can’t be easy trying to get consumers to punch in word after word every time they are interested in an advertisement.

That’s just our thoughts, of course. What’s yours?