With the great NFC race looming, Google is axing support for QR Codes in their Places service. QR codes made a noble play for the hearts and minds of nerds, but honestly, I hope this is the first step towards their complete and utter annihilation.
When QR Codes were first introduced to the masses, they were a novel concept: You saw a weird looking digital pattern confined by a square box. You took a photo of it with your phone. It then launched whatever app/website it told your phone to and you were then informed.
In theory that sounds fine. In actuality, it was an unrefined technology with an unsatisfying end reward more often than not. First you had to spend time firing up your camera, or whatever QR-compatible app made use of your camera. Then you had to line up a shot of the QR Code. Then it processed the photo and shuffled you into another app (web browser, perhaps?), where you were privvied to what ever facts of life you needed (most likely some fluffy marketing BS).
A first world problem, to be sure. But within the realm of usable technology, QR Codes weren’t exactly convenient.
Yes, NFC could somehow turn out to be the same piece of mediocrity as the QR Code standard. But honestly, how badly can you fuck up the experience of pulling your phone out of your pocket, holding it up to a sensor and having it pay for something? [Blumenthals]
Cameron
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 4:24 PMHuh? How is NFC a replacement for QR codes? QR codes were pointers to information, not a device you communicate with. You can’t print a NFC code onto a poster, you need additional technology to communicate with the phone.
Dean
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 5:02 PMJust think bluetooth spamming but worse.
boc
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 5:15 PMYes – the author of this blog post is an fool.
Douglas Orchard
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 8:07 PMI agree with Cameron. This article seems like rant, an incoherent rant. QR Codes will always have a place but comparing them to NFC is a stroke of madness.
Jackson Bison
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 9:07 PMThank you.
Luke Santillo
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 11:37 PMExcactly right.
Also, How many phones can use QR Codes vs how many phones can use NFC?
Des
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 11:53 PMYeah exactly. Strange premise for this post. NFC won’t replace QR codes, they’ll co-exist.
Komakaze
Friday, April 1, 2011 at 12:02 AMi like QR codes. I wouldn’t actually visit one unless i had a fair idea it lead to something good. They’re more convenient than manually typing a long URL. Google don’t need them on the market anymore because you can push your apps directly to your phone from the internet browser on you PC. They’re not for everything, but i think they do have valuable uses.
blaze0041
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 5:59 PMIf I’m not mistaken, Japan is probably the only country where QR codes are used more extensively and successfully. QR is mediocre? Beats having to type out a freaking web address on a standard keypad.
Jon
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 6:04 PMIt’s interesting That the article is about the failure of the QR codes and yet a brand new device. (3DS) has a form of it as a feature.
It’s not that the technology was bad. It’s that it wasn’t able to be implemented properly.
Simon
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 6:37 PMId have to agree with cameron here.Qr codes are going to be around for a long time to come.I know I’d prefer to use them than type in long ugly urls.And the marketing benefits are just massive .
David Anderton
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 6:46 PMyeh silly article i reckon. How will they put nfc in magazines and newspapers?
Anonymouse
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 11:17 PM:( Now I’ll have to search for apps in the Android Market :(
Thhee Hackmann
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 11:40 PMSimply not true! QR Codes are definitely the FUTURE of marketing a simple message to interested customers in a fun and most definitely UNIQUE way! Perhaps there is a great deal of room to improve the power of the QR Code and certainly to allow non-techies to even know how to begin using it, but right now I’m loving it and definitely will create my own for our business. http://www.gretchy.com
Jon
Friday, April 1, 2011 at 1:07 AMAgreed. Your argument works if QR codes were a method for payment that was onerous, but that’s not the case. It is an easier way to get to a website or specific content without having to input a long, funky url. Different use cases and both enhance efficiency imo.
Mike Martoccia
Friday, April 1, 2011 at 2:33 AMNFC is great however, if your credit card only worked 1 out of 5 times how often are you going to use it (no offense to Discover). There are a lot of inherent challenges with NFC i.e.. interference with signal transmission, cost of establishments to implement hardware, etc… QR has its place and is by far dead. SXSW this year was littered with it. IMO The scanning feature should be inherent to the camera on all devices moving forward.
Ash
Friday, April 1, 2011 at 10:24 AMNot only was the blog pointless, but please mind your manners. Seriously, using words like f**k in an article is just not on. Im not uptight but a little social responsibility, maturity, and a sense driven debate may actually make your blogs worth reading.
Steve
Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 4:35 PMI see you’ve never read THIS lovely article.
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/11/you-write-bias-journalism-and-i-read-derp/
Where an editor drops the F-bomb half a dozen times and calls out his audience for being idiots.
I love the fact that Giz Australia has a local bent, and it’s the only thing that’s stopping me from using Engadget/Joystiq exclusively, but some of these US Giz articles… sigh.
Steve
Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 4:32 PMI’m still using QR codes for phone links. And the 3DS I just picked up still uses it too.
Funny how the very picture in this article completely trashes the text. Yeah. How DO you shove NFC into a newspaper.
Derp
Leonard Low
Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 12:31 PMThe writer of this article knows so little about QR Codes that the illustration they’ve chosen to accompany their rant doesn’t even SHOW a QR Code.
Yes, it’s a 2D barcode, but it isn’t a QR.