It's time for your business to enter the matrix..

[Adam Chant]

Have you ever wondered what those weird dotted pictures are that are popping up all over the place? They can be seen everywhere from newspaper print to magazines and even billboards. Some are boxed squares with pixels in them and others are colored triangles. I have even see people make mosaic art with them..so what does it all mean?

No, if you squint your eyes you can't see a photo of the B1 bomber by merging 2 patterns together..

Well as a business owner it’s imperative that you know what they are and start taking steps to integrate them into your everyday life. I’m talking about 2D matrix codes or specifically QR-codes. QR-code was invented way back in 1994 by Denso-Wave a subsidiary of Toyota. At the time they were used to track the parts used in the manufacture of vehicles, but with the advent of cell phones with cameras they can be used for just about anything. The best part is that anyone can generate a custom QR-code and use it free of any license.

It is estimated by Nielsen that 1 in 2 Americans will have a smartphone by the end of 2011 with the push for them coming both by the retailers and consumer. Not all smartphones are for business either, 2/3 of all smartphone owners use them as their personal phones. Currently a slight majority of users are male and the majority of users tend to be Hispanic or Asian. In the age category 10% of all smartphone users are 18-24 years old with the largest group of users at 29% being 25-34 years old. Add to this the iPod touch and tablet war expected to be played out in 2011 [based on the hype at this month’s CES in Las Vegas] and you have a society of QR-code readers ready to enter the matrix.

Don’t get confused either, this isn’t your mom’s UPC code that stores a few vague inventory numbers as a glorified price tag and you don’t use it to organize books in the library. (Although that’s a good idea) This is a fully integrated complex code that can store thousands of numbers, letters, binary bits and/or even Asian characters. It also includes a form of error correction so that if some of the code is damaged or missing it can still reconstruct it. This when combined with a smartphone QR-code reader app can do just about anything you would want of your potential customers and then some.  Pop up your website address, Done! Open up Google earth to your address, Done! Provide a 4000 character dissertation on your products or services, Done! Create electronic coupons, Done! Pay for items directly from the customers smartphone, Done, Done Done!

But wait there is more..

Like I said anyone can generate a custom QR-code and use it free of license. This is 100% true and valid. Denso owns the patent rights for QR-code, but they have chosen not to exercise them, thus defaulting the ISO standardized code to license free public use. There are a number of free applications, websites, and publishing software that can all generate QR-code to be printed from a standard printer and with the integrated error correction even inexpensive bubble jet printers will work. The most common use of this type of code is identifying shipping content by all of the major postal carriers, but here is a table of the base capability for the most common uses of QR-code.

Numeric only	Max 7089 characters
Alphanumeric	Max 4296 characters
Binary(8 bits)	Max 2953 bytes
Kanji/Kana	Max 1817 characters

 
Expounding on the base functionality above, as many as a 500 word text message can be stored in a QR-code matrix or just a phone number, web address, smartphone app or Google maps location. With the integration of a web based database each time a potential customer views a matrix it can be counted. In some cases additional information like customer location and contact information can even be recorded. Just adding a vCard matrix to the back of a paper business card or email signature is the first step in taking advantage of this powerful medium.

 This is my contact information.

 
So where does this put your business? Who knows how far you can take it. I suspect that soon you’ll see business with these types of codes on everything in a retail store. Then by tracking the number of hits per piece of merchandise the retailer can adjust prices to move stock or even get feedback from potential customers on pricing and product popularity. Imagine having a dozen people in your potential customer’s ear saying positive things about the item they just scanned. By directing them to a detailed product description and user reviews in your database on their smartphone they are presented with all that positive feedback and in no way feel imposed on by sales people or others for the sale. It’s viral and subconscious marketing at its best and all it cost you was a little time and a printer. This is just the beginning..

Adam Chant
adam(at)antelecom(dot)net
“I’m just sayin..”

[Adam Chant]

I have the local social title of Walking Book of Useless Knowledge. It was great meeting everyone.

[Stokely Wilson]

It was a real joy having Adam in the house ... what wealth of info.

[Adam Chant]

Thank you.

We also discussed this today during the broadcast of Socialnomics 101.

http://ilivetodayav.com Jim Greenleaf talks about Socialnomics and ...

[Graphic Experience 945.1718]

Very, very interesting...   great to meet you this morning.