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The use of QR
codes is steadily
rising and expand-
ing in different
directions.
Mobile Payments and Instant Gift Cards
Do you find that credit/debit cards are somewhat te-
dious and/or even dangerous to carry around with
you? Wouldn’t it be much simpler if you could use
the built-in capabilities of your smart phone to make
payments and send money instead? Well, now you
can thanks to a company called Square Wallet. In es-
sence, their downloadable app allows you to use QR
codes to pay for items on the go and/or send stylish
and customizable gift cards to anyone.
Business Cards
In the world of business, first impressions are very im-
portant, and as such, being able to absolutely “floor”
a potential client, customer, or employer is very im-
portant. Well, what better place to start than with
one’s business card, eh? Many intrepid individuals
have now taken to placing QR codes directly on their
business cards. The benefit here is that you can in-
stantly direct someone to some specific site, informa-
tion database, and film (or media presentation). For
example, if you were a musician or band, the QR code
on your business card could be used to direct a book-
ing agent or fan to a specific song or YouTube perfor-
mance video.
Food and Dining Industry
What if you could instantly trace the origins of the
fish or vegetables in your dinner (with your smart
phone)? In short, this is exactly what some com-
panies are racing to develop right now, even as you
read this. In essence, diners would be able to trace
the very route that their fish took from where it was
caught straight to their table. If that wasn’t enough, a
German company called “Qkies” is taking the concept
one step further by actually placing QR codes directly
onto food. Currently, they’re using the approach to
embed personalized messages (in QR code format)
for specialized events, but it’s pretty clear that there
are multiple uses for such a concept.
Wikipedia
Perhaps one of the most brilliant uses for QR codes
comes from Wikipedia. Quite simply, they’ve estab-
lished “QRpedia”, which is a mobile web system that
uses QR codes to transport Wiki articles to specific
users. This is a great way for institutions like uni-
versities, museums, etc. to quickly allow students or
visitors to access any relevant articles that exist in the
Wikipedia database.
What does it all mean?
If you’re an IT professional or someone employed (or
merely interested) in a tech-related field, this is clear
evidence that people are going to need individuals
with experience in utilizing QR code technologies. In
other words, if you take the time to complete a certifi-
cation program in this field, many future employment
opportunities will likely open up to you (in ways you
never could have anticipated). After all, we’re talk-
ing about a type of technology here that is (arguably)
one of the most versatile and easy to grasp. Rest as-
sured that businesses will always be on the lookout for
specialists who know how to properly implement QR
code-based sales, marketing and information distri-
bution strategies.
Despite the bad press,
the use of QR codes
is steadily increas-
ing
Whether you love,
hate, or are largely
indifferent to QR
codes, one thing is
becoming quite clear—
they’re becoming in-
creasingly visible in all lev-
els of our global society. Originally
developed as part of a better system for tracking au-
tomobiles during manufacture, QR codes have since
then been integrated nearly everywhere you can im-
agine. Simply put, they’re extremely convenient and
allow people with smart phones (and other devices)
to quickly queue up specific information about any-
thing.
By the same token, these handy 3D bar-codes allow
businesses to specifically target information directly
to consumers in a way that was previously unthink-
able. For example, a quick snapshot of a QR code can
direct potential customers to a website, send them a
redeemable coupon, or even grant them access to “in-
side information”. However, the actual uses for QR
code technology in 2012 up until now (early 2013)
has exploded in ways that virtually no one could have
predicted.
According to a piece written by Michael Levanduski
of performinsider.com, ScanLife, who is one of the
true heavyweights in the QR world, had this to say:
“Through a well designed infographic, ScanLife reveals
that results went up from 24 scans per minute in Q2
of 2011 to 120 scans per minute in Q2 of 2012. They
stated that there were 4 million new people using Scan-
Life to scan QR codes in Q2, while there were a total
of 5.3 million scans for the month of June alone. That’s
the highest number of scans ever reported for a single
month, which shows that QR codes seem to be making
a substantial comeback.”
Clearly, this indicates that (despite what the naysay-
ers keep on insisting) the overall use of QR codes is
in fact steadily increasing. To get a better handle on
why this might be the case, let’s examine some of the
emerging uses of the technology itself.
Take some of the following real-life examples into
consideration:
Tourism
At Arpoador (a land mass that divides the Ipanema
and Copacabana beaches), you’ll find a QR code that
has been inlaid into the sidewalk. What’s the pur-
pose of this scannable code, you ask? Well, tourists
who snap a shot of it with their smart phones will
instantly gain access to a Multi-language site that
contains tourist hot spots, maps, as well as interesting
tidbits such as historical facts. Naturally, this is just
the first example of such an attempt to integrate QR
code technology into the functional landscape. They
have plans to add at least 30 more installments at 30
or more locations. Needless to say, this is a brilliant
use for the technology and has the potential to revo-
lutionize and simply internationalize tourism.
QR Codes used
more and more