Am I missing something?
Posted by Martin on Nov 8, 2005 in MobileOne of the presentations was from Dennis Hettema from Shotcode. While such tags are technically fascinating I just don't see the business appeal. It's a vision shared by at least two other companies - semacode and gavitec - so I must be missing something.
The pitch is that using a program on their phone a user can scan one of these squiggles and with a single click connect to the web page or other resource on their camera phone. Isn't it simpler and quicker to ask the user to send an SMS with a shortcode?
Most of the target customer base understands shortcodes and knows how to text. Alternatively they can download and run a Java program that might or might not work on a given handset. On first use I imagine most folks would give up before even getting the midlet on their phone. On subsequent use I bet an SMS is still quicker to send.
There aren't even many adverts that use shortcodes so I can't imagine how small the potential market for these tags is.
If the functionality was built into the phone and camera software then maybe it would work, but until then give me shortcodes.
Comments
What you are overlooking is SemaCode and Gavitec are introducing a new way to surf using your mobile phone.
This is how the physical world gets connected to the digital one.
2d codes act as hyperlinks for now, but soon a barcode or image will act as the hyperlink.
As far as the business appeal, every physical product is now a hyperlink to a website of the brands choosing.
Every movie poster, can of Coke, DVD, magazine ad, For Sale sign become interactive.
Watch and see how brands use these physical world hyperlinks to start mobile marketing.
This, IMO, will be bigger than Google. When brands and consumers can form a direct link, then you will see "real" ad dollars get spent.
Posted by: scott shaffer | November 8, 2005 06:48 PM
But only if the software is integrated into the handset. Until then I remain unconvinced.
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November 8, 2005 09:11 PM