![\"Favorite](\"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/images\/FavoritePlaces.jpg\")
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Yesterday Google did something that should light a fire under the lagging adoption of mobile barcodes in the US. \u00a0They are sending window decals featuring a QR code to the 100,000 US businesses that are\u00a0 most searched using Google. \u00a0The decals also have the Google Maps logo and identify the business as a “Favorite Place on Google<\/a>“.<\/p>\n Users with QR code readers on their phones can point the phone’s camera at the QR code, press a button and be taken to a mobile web page<\/a> with user reviews, click to call number, Google map and a link to directions to the establishment.<\/p>\n I’ve been a big fan of \u00a0QR codes since seeing them in action in Japan a number of years ago. Virtually every handbill, poster, business card, newspaper ad, bus stop and store front in Japan features a QR code that points at a mobile web page. \u00a0The Japanese have been using QR codes for over 10 years and almost every Japanese market mobile phone has a built in code reader application.<\/p>\n Mobile barcodes are such an easy, inexpensive and practical way of \u00a0sharing and promoting mobile sites. \u00a0I really expected that they would take off in the West. But adoption has been slow largely due to the lack of bundled readers in phones, turf wars between vendors of competing barcode formats and the seeming reluctance of mobile operators to adopt something that they did not “own” and that would make it easy for users to stray off the operator’s mobile web deck.<\/p>\n Google’s Favorite Places<\/em> should do a lot to drive enthusiasm for QR codes. \u00a0The biggest remaining block to immediate adoption is the lack of bundled readers. Even Android phones require that the user download and install a reader app. \u00a0I expect that Google will soon bundle a reader with the Android OS. \u00a0In the meantime Android phones can use the free “Barcode Scanner” app in the Android Marketplace. For the iPhone, Google recommends the QuickMark<\/a> app. \u00a0QuickMark normally costs $1.99 but Google has cut a deal with the vendor to make it free to the first 40,000 people who download it.<\/p>\n There are also QR Code readers available or Windows Mobile, Symbian and most Java camera phones. \u00a0Google recommends BeeTagg<\/a> and NeoReader.<\/a> If neither works with your phone \u00a0there are dozens of other readers available. Qrme.co.uk<\/a> and mobile-barcodes.com<\/a> are a couple of sites with links to many different readers.<\/p>\n A word of warning though, the Favorite Places landing pages are currently Android and iPhone only!<\/strong> Although Google’s announcement states that BeeTag and NeoReader work well with their decals I found that the mobile pages which the decal’s QR codes link to only appear on iPhones and Android devices. \u00a0The Nokia Reader on my N95 correctly decoded the URL in sample decal in Google’s announcement.\u00a0 But when I opened that URL in the Nokia Webkit based browser was I redirected to the generic Mobile Google search page<\/strong>. Based on testing with the User Agent Switcher Firefox Add-on it appears that this redirection also occurs with\u00a0 BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Java feature phone browsers. Browser sniffing and mandatory redirection to irrelevant URLs is evil.<\/strong> As a browser vendor itself Google, should understand the importance of thematic consistency<\/a> – a URL should deliver equivalent content on all devices. \u00a0Hopefully this is just a rush to launch<\/em> oversight and Google will quickly fix Favorite Places so that it works will all browsers.<\/p>\n Related Posts:<\/em> Yesterday Google did something that should light a fire under the lagging adoption of mobile barcodes in the US. \u00a0They are sending window decals featuring a QR code to the 100,000 US businesses that are\u00a0 most searched using Google. \u00a0The decals also have the Google Maps logo and identify the business as a “Favorite Place on Google“. Users with QR code readers on their phones can point the phone’s camera at the QR code, press a button and be taken … Continue reading ![\"Favorite](\"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/images\/FavoritePlacesLandingPage.jpg\" "\\"Favorite")
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\nDick\u2019s Sporting Goods QR Code Mobile Site Promotion<\/a>
\nCTIA Endorses 2D Barcodes<\/a>
\nQR Codes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"