Interesting to see QR code currently displayed on http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/, linking through to http://www.bbc.co.uk/musicevents/shootthesummer/qr.shtml
Seems like an odd use of a QR code - it takes you to http://www.bbc.co.uk/mobile/shootthesummer/ from where you can download a trailer of the finished video in .3gp format, but are directed back to 'a PC' to watch the full version (presumably for fear that the long version would be an expensive mobile download). I have to say, I've always been sceptical of the use-case for 2D barcodes (for consumers that is - it's easy to see how they're used within industry as an extension of traditional 1D barcodes). Sure, it's fiddly to type a URL out on a mobile keypad, but not much less fiddly than opening a barcode reader app buried deep within the menus. And my new N96 didn't even have the app pre-installed (even though it was on the N95, so maybe Nokia have lost interest in it too). It's hard enough to get people used to the idea of using the internet on their mobile, with all the barriers that presents. Scanning a barcode to visit a website seems like a conceptual leap too far. I suspect it's more likely that users will just use search (Google) as a way of navigating to websites on their mobile, just as they do on desktop browsers. Still though, we're told QR codes are 'big in Japan'... Excuse the meandering, but I wondered what developers on here think of QR codes (and its variants - Semacode, etc - one of the problems is all the competing standards!). Have you EVER used a mobile barcode reader for anything other than testing / novelty value? Frankie Roberto http://www.frankieroberto.com
