Is future of QR codes and newspapers really that rosey?
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If you’re unfamiliar with QR codes, please take a look at my series on these communication innovations. Sweet pic by fimb
QR codes have the potential to change the ways newspapers relate to consumers and could provide some revenue-generators for print news.
At the same time, U.S. QR code adoption faces obstacles that have some marketers acting cautiously. To me, that sounds like newspapers have an opportunity to join the 2D bar code game and help lead the mobile transition.
Are U.S. QR code experiments failing?
You may think I’m jumping ahead of myself if you’ve read ZDNet’s reports on failed 2D bar code trials at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
In this project, students pasted 2D bar codes throughout campus, but interest has been tepid, succeeding mostly at bus stops where codes listed schedules, reports ZDNet.
Why the lukewarm reaction?
At least in part - cost, students in the ZDNet article said. Every time a person wants to snap a picture of a the bar codes and translate it to SMS and rove the mobile internet, they are incurring fees from their mobile provider. Although data plans are becoming more plentiful, they remain costly.
Check out the video on the project:
The Case Western study concludes this May and at least one student involved in the project says it’s premature to call the experiment a failure. Says one student involved in the project:
… just last week, L3, a campus eatery, was flooded with students interested in learning how to scan and create their own codes.
Still, don’t start planning for a revolution to begin this summer.
Search advisor Andrew Miller says QR codes aren’t likely just around the corner for U.S. markets and “adoption rates will be slowed by the expense and low penetration of broadband-enabled phones with data plans.”
He’s right! All the pieces aren’t in place, but they’re coming.
Will the mobile internet really take off? Yes!
Google’s push for open-network requirements in the wireless spectrum to be vacated by TV broadcasters by 2009 has helped ensure more opportunities for consumer benefits in the coming mobile market.
Reports ZDNet:
“Consumers soon should begin enjoying new, internet-like freedom to get the most out of their mobile phones and other wireless devices,” Google attorneys Richard Whitt and Joseph Faber said in a brief statement following the US Federal Communications Commission auctions.
What’s more, Silicon Alley Insider reports that ABI Research predicts an explosion in the mobile browser market with “open-Internet” browsers, like Firefox and Opera, soaring to 700 million units delivered worldwide in 2013.”
The coming open-network wireless spectrum and mobile browser influx point to a more internet-friendly mobile environment, one that Google is strongly pushing for.
So what can newspapers do?
PLAN AND PREPARE!
The writing is on the wall. Although your grandma may not be quick to adopt QR codes, the mobile internet is on it’s way, and people WILL use it. Newspapers can’t afford to be blindsided by 2D bar codes in the same way the web smacked the news world upside the head.
Have you or your paper experimented with QR codes or mobile intiatives? How do you think newspapers can strike a chord on the mobile internet?
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April 12th, 2008 at 11:13 am
[…] Is the future of QR codes and newspapers really that rosey? […]
April 12th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Hi,
It’s really important to make a difference here. The Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio didn’t use QR Codes, but a proprietory 2D barcode.
Whereas QR Codes are an open standard, the Case Western Reserve University code is not.
The difference is huge, not only because preinstalled QR Code readers are already in the millions - thanks to Nokia, Asus, Sharp and soon Google’s Android, but also because there are several reader companies supporting this standard.
Regarding cost, QR Codes also offer a much more pleasant perspective with online and offline codes - offline codes being free of charge.
Last but not least, if there is a compelling offer being the QR Code, early adopters will use it even at today’s high data rates (which have to come down nevertheless).
Otherwise the iPhone or the Blackberry would never have taken off.
April 12th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Thanks Roger, I really appreciate you clearing those things up. There’s a lot to learn about QR codes and I agree that anything proprietary won’t serve consumers as well as open technology.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Well, I’ve published the first QR code in The Post-Standard in Syracuse, and we’ll see how this goes.
A few preliminary thoughts:
It will be easy for some to say that the audience is so small that it’s not worth the effort, smaller than twitter even, but if the future is in niche audiences, then it’s worth the effort, which isn’t much trouble, really. I have a theory that the smaller the audience the better, and if you get in while the audience is “too small to be worth it,” that’s when you really get noticed and put down valuable roots as the community grows. It’s just one of many small audiences.
On my Nokia phone, which is supposed to be already compatible, I found i-Nigma’s software to be the easiest to download and use.
I could see the codes being used on several levels: a logo on a business card or promotional materials for the newspaper, or a logo in an ad, but it’ll be interesting to see if it becomes more of an information and news delivering device. It probably won’t be a newspaper that does this, but I wonder if some art student will take this concept and turn the whole town into a hyperlinked environment. Point at the bus stop and get an rss feed of the next bus’s position, point at the restaurant window and get the menu and daily specials, etc. In fact a savvy newspaper could be the catalyst for this.
It might require the kind of marketing that Apple is a genius at, but that newspapers have always been awful at. But newspapers are starting to think about community building, so that helps.
Several things have to line up: a camera phone with a data plan, with the software installed, within easy reach of the user, who is motivated by the content to snap the image. It will really take off when it’s a one-button, top button thing to do, with no fumbling. Almost as easy as “surfing the real world” by pointing to one object or another.
I hope it gets newspapers finally thinking about where and when readers want news, and what they’re holding in their hands at that moment. That’s not something “one size fits all” newspapers have been thinking about. For this, newspapers might want to think about, “where would people find newspapers and wi-fi, with a few minutes to spare?” and target coffee shops, pizza parlors and the like.
That’s a lot to say about this odd little experiment that’s just starting, but I’ll be looking forward to seeing what happens.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Great comment Brian. I’m excited to hear what you’re results will be. There certainly are barriers to QR codes, but I think the real crux behind this whole thing is that newspapers need to figure out ways to better market their content, and QR codes are just one example of what they experiment with. Keep me updated on what you find!
April 16th, 2008 at 4:34 am
@Brian,
QUOTE>
It probably won’t be a newspaper that does this, but I wonder if some art student will take this concept and turn the whole town into a hyperlinked environment. Point at the bus stop and get an rss feed of the next bus’s position, point at the restaurant window and get the menu and daily specials, etc. In fact a savvy newspaper could be the catalyst for this.
QUOTE END<
We are currently working on a project called DokoDare (Where?Who?) which goes right into this direction. If you know people in the US who would be interested in doing something like that, let me know.
Best
Roger
May 1st, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Based off the award winning Lavasphere technology developed in Germany by Gavitec, the NeoReader features NeoMedia’s patented resolution technology combined with Gavitec’s ultra-small footprint and platform independent algorithms. It is able to read and decipher all common non-proprietary 2D codes (Data Matrix, QR, Aztec) as well as URL embedded 2D codes and all 1D UPC/EAN/Code 128 open source codes. The NeoReader supports direct and indirect code linking, which guarantees maximum interoperability with already existing platforms like 2D Data Matrix Semacodes, and Japanese QR links. This allows the user to click on a variety of codes with a single application installed on their mobile device.