TechHive: QR codes are still a thing, even if no one uses them

TechHive
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thumbnail QR codes are still a thing, even if no one uses them
Jul 26th 2013, 10:00, by Caitlin McGarry

Quick Response codes were once as ubiquitous as Twitter hashtags on advertisements, but the emerging technology now seems like an afterthought. Poor QR codes—they never even stood a chance.

Why didn't consumers fall in love with QR codes? For one thing, pulling out your phone to scan a glorified bar code on an ad to learn more about a product is a lot of work. Sure, QR codes store more information than standard bar codes, but they also makes the consumer complicit in their own marketing—to which most people say, "Thanks, but no."

Nevertheless, companies are still trying to make QR codes work. They're not very appealing in ads—especially when they're inconveniently placed on billboards or in subway stations—but maybe they could succeed in more creative settings.

Quality control

QR codes are easy to make, print, and distribute—perhaps a little too easy. Tons of websites let you make QR codes for free, and companies regularly emblazon useless codes on products or ads that point to their own (not optimized for mobile) websites. It's enough to make you give up on the whole enterprise altogether. But you can find a few creative uses of QR codes out there right now (aside from this QR-code pizza masterpiece). It's not surprising that some of the best QR code usage is in an industry known for being a little more adventurous than most: gaming.

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