Monday, November 12, 2007

Google To Trial QR Codes With Print Advertisers


The cat is out of the bag. You didn't think Google would let trillions of physical world hyperlinks go untapped did you?

Wubbahed at MobileCampNYC, describes Google's sneak peek at ZXing (Zebra Crossing), the barcode reader Google is planning to include in the Android SDK being released on Monday.

"The most important thing I pulled out of the presentation is that Google is going to trial QR codes with print advertisers. This shows that Google is going to start actively pushing bar codes, but more importantly, it shows that they’re moving more into the print area, even if it is just to link people to online services."

See how Google Connects The Physical World with a mobile phone.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I also attended the meeting in NYC on Saturday. I think the post does not accurately represent what was actually said by the person at Google. What he stated was that Google is building an open source reader that will be included with Android. Right now they are working on QR and Data Matrix as well as intend to add UPC/EAN reading as well. They are willing to consider other code formats that could be "openned" up too.

The current mode that Google is expecting to support will be direct URL links. Any UPC codes would be resolved through Google to product content that they host.

While one might think that Google would move to working with print advertisers, this was not stated at the meeting. It is a good trend that can help open up this service.

Anonymous said...

Scott,
I cant help but to laugh at JP's, I mean anonymous comment. I wonder what bar code camp he was at, because the source you linked to, posted two slides that were displayed at the presentation.

The second slide not once but twice mentions Print ads. That appears to be a large projected image with someones head in the bottom of it, so I don't think the blogger made it up, its an actual picture from the bar camp presentation.

What I read was
*Google will trial QR codes in PRINT ADS

*Adds value for PRINT ADVERTISERS

*No new bar code formats

* No link through Google necessary

Now I have to wonder if those 2 slides that a picture was taken of are legitimate.....LOL

No Name said...

I am always amazed how facts can interpreted or massaged, in order to "paint" a specific picture.

srowen said...

Hi guys -- I was one of the two Google folks speaking at this event. I think this is the source of the confusion. The two of us were speaking about many of the same things but I can imagine people being left with slightly different pictures. Apologies.

Those were my slides, and indeed we ran ads with QR Codes in the NY Times and other papers on Friday. Here is the informational site.

I mentioned that we were creating an open-source reader project called zxing and I'm happy to announce it's open for business today:
http://code.google.com/p/zxing

Some people left thinking that Android's SDK would include this code. It does not, and, it will be a short while before we can put out our Android client in the zxing project. But it's coming. Thanks!