I recently found myself confronted by a New Jersey Transit conductor. "Taking pictures is not allowed on the train," he barked.
"No problem, sir," I responded, "I don't want any trouble," and quietly returned my camera to its place in my backpack.
Why was I taking a picture on a New York bound train? A Lufthansa ad with a text URL made me do it. Last year, I would have thought nothing of it--just another company ad with a URL. Today, armed with the knowledge of QR Codes, I thought to myself, "How silly... why would a company ask a customer to thumb type a link into their mobile device, when a QR Code would make it so easy?"
After thinking about this a bit more (it was a long ride), the infancy of the mobile network hit me like, well, a train. There's just so much to be developed for the mobile community, and we don't even have the ability to reach it without thumb typing. The fact that a global giant like Lufthansa was foisting this clumsy and cumbersome access method was indisputable evidence thereof.
Although URL's on print ads can be found almost everywhere, they'll soon be a dinosaur. Why would anyone take the time to type a link if they could simply scan a code and let the device do the typing? Herein lies the power of QR codes. They provide a much improved link between the physical and online worlds.
So much work to do...
Have questions about how to implement QR codes? Please email Keith at kjm@miklas.org.
Keith Miklas holds a Masters Degree in Information Technology from George Washington University, and a Bachelors degree in both Computer Science and Mathematics from Rutgers. He has over thirty years of experience at all levels of Information Technology--from design and development to project management and company ownership. He is currently a Sr. System Engineer at a Marketing design firm in the New York metropolitan area, specializing and a subject matter expert in QR code application in mobile advertising and marketing.
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