Telstra Brings QR Codes To Australia Via NextG
Remember QR codes? Those small, square designs that act like barcodes that you can scan with your mobile phone’s camera? They’re huge in Japan – those crazy Japanese are even putting them on graves.
Well, Telstra announced today that they’ll be introducing the software to read QR codes on their NextG handsets as a free download for customers. And from the sounds of it, it will happen automatically – so you don’t even need to do anything.
According to the press release, Telstra’s planning on using the QR codes to offer, among other things:
“the latest news, sport and weather information; music files; maps; store information for later if you’re in a hurry; tickets to shows; video presentations that give users guided tours, how-to information and trailers; links to social networking sites and special discount offers.”
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Comments
Nokia N95’s with unbranded and up to date firmware should already have this functionality. :-)
This is old news, nokia has been able to do this for years, even here in Australia
Zurich Insurance in Japan apparently has these things on bumper stickers, so if your car is in a crash you take a photo of the image and it sends your location to Zurich and starts the claims / assistance process.
Thats pretty cool.
The barcodes in the photo for this article are not QRCodes. Also, there’s a QR Code generator on my site: http://nfg.2y.net/system/qrcodegen.php
Actually NFG has a very good point…
The codes in the picture are in fact EZ codes a propriety format from Scanbuy. The picture is actually of a recent Scanbuy campaign in San Francisco with City Search. We (QMCODES)will be launching something similar here shortly with My247.com, keep an eye out for it coming to a restaurant near you!
This all sounds very interesting but i have heard about some other software called “MyClick” which offers the same service but with real images. What does Telstra Mobile Code offer over this technology which seems like the next generation?
Not sure if art directors etc. will want a crossword puzzle on Ad’s? Also looks like it needs to be large to be read correctly. What about http://www.myclick.com.au isn’t that more advanced?
Can I sue telstra for prior art, I have been using a qr code as my icon for quite some time now.. so they have not introduced anything into australia…
Hi from New York.
It’s been with great interest that as an expat I’ve been watching the launch of QRious.com.au
As a consultant in the QR space – http://www.cognation.net/profile I agree with you that QR codes have been used in Australia for a long time.
And yes Telstra’s rhetoric is way over the top BUT the deployment of QR readers directly onto handsets by a carrier has always been a barrier to utilization.
With Telstra getting into this in a big way my advice to clients is leverage and take advantage of this.
For those of you that are interested go to http://www.collins.net.pr/blog and search QR in the top left hand box and you’ll find 10 or so articles about the history of QR and it’s deployment globally in successful campaigns.
There is also a background briefing pdf at http://www.cognation.net/qr
Cheers,
Dean Collins
http://www.Cognation.net
Good point Dean. The fact that Telstra is getting behind QR codes means that there will be scale and therefore a standard. This has been a barrier in other markets and I believe will mean that QR codes in Oz will become a must-use media activation device for marketers… and in turn a huge driver for the mobile web. Add iPhone into the mix – now only days away – and I think it fair to say that we’re going to see some BIG changes in mainstream consumer behaviour. Bring it on!
I think this is all very amusing. Not only will there be drive-by-downloads on mobile phones, then they’ll have to make antivirus for mobile phones too.
In the digital world, we call the internet, there is this thing called an IP Address. It links malicious attackers to their point of attack. What’s stopping a mischievous child making and printing out a bunch of small QRCodes that costed him less than 20 cents to print and sticking them neatly on public transport signs all over his neighbourhood causing a malicious worm to be at his fingertips? How about a botnet of mobile phones to bring down Telstra? No IP Address there folks.
Yours skeptically,
-Malformation
Hi Malformation,
Premium SMS which is what i’m assumign you are referring to doesn’t work that way.
I think you need to do some more research, what you are proposing isn’t possible.
Cheers,
Dean