An excerpt from an email from Marc:

but your kaywa reader is only for Qr Code?
Don't you like datamtrix technology?

As this is a recurrent question, I want to answer it once and for all;)

The Kaywa Reader reads both QR Codes and Datamatrix;)
And you can also create both: here and there.

We love open, well defined, certified and thought through standards* and Datamatrix as well as QR Code fall into this category, but QR Code is definitely the better code for all things mobile and especially mobile tagging. There are several reasons:

1. The QR Code is "iconic", whereas Datamatrix is not very attractive (it's has no form, it's a mess).
2. Especially Women** and the Creative*** adore QR Codes (nonetheless the European Central Bank and the business executive school IMD also love it)
3. People on the web have already "voted" for QR Code
4. Japan has pioneered QR Codes on mobile phones since 2003 and all global brands have already used it (from Nike to McDonalds, from Zurich Assurances to BMW).
5. The incredible fast way of adopting QR Codes in Japan and Taiwan is a very promising sign
6. Japanses pop culture is to my sons generation what american pop culture was for me. Youth today is therefore continously in contact with QR Codes. Just buy your son a Naruto plastic toy and you can't miss it.
7. The japanese example is right - offline and online codes - especially in a time where consumers fear to spend a lot of money by accessing the mobile internet (even if this is true for Datamatrix, the QR Code set the good example - and so far most european Datamatrix initiatives are not very keen to adopt the "offline+online" model.
8. Here in Switzerland we have Datamatrix on our bills and it is therefore
a) confusing (which code is to read for mobile phones and which one is only for internal use; you would have to add a marker to the code to differentiate them)
b) some associations ("I have to pay this") could be harmful

* Would there be a web without HTML, and think why SMS became such a global success?
** The publishing company Axel Springer did some study on this
*** Just watch the Pet Shop Boys video, Spex or Zadig&Voltaire

Gallerie Japan is a great blog to know about the newest QR Code developments in Japan and it shows that QR Code are useable for far more then mobile marketing.



This is convenience supreme.

The home delivery system in Japan is already well advanced but yesterday I noticed a new development in the form of a letterbox recently installed at a new house in our neighborhood.
The box is to secure deliveries and includes a time & signature receipt stamp for the driver.
[...] I missed a delivery at home a few weeks ago. When I got home, waiting in the front door letterbox was a card with a QR Code. I scanned it using my mobile phone (with a QR Code Reader); it displayed options such as a link directly to the driver’s phone, hotline to head-office or hyperlink to the delivery company website.

I wonder when UPS or Swiss Post will come out with something similar. And I hope even more that they will be smart enough to take a ISO-Standard code and one that is immediately recognizable as a mobile code. Well, we got then only one choice here - and it's the same as in Japan;)

See also:
Freewheeling thoughts about CRM and social interactions with QRSS (12.9.2006)
Yamato Shipment Tracking with QR Code

Interesting course:
Mobile Social Networking, the Financial Saviour of the Mobile Sector

The smart guys working in 3G now accept that the one-to-many broadcast of mobile content is a broken business model. So what now? The passion of connected people to socialise words, voice, media and digital possessions around their personal networks never went away - it just went mobile. Mobile Social Networking. It's time is right now.

From The Impact of the Mobile Internet by Stuart Carlaw.

This clash is only just beginning and is being fuelled by the dual forces of fear and greed. The wireless carriers are fearful, while the large internet companies such as Google and Yahoo! see expansion into the mobile domain as a logical extension of their current businesses. The internet companies’ open approach to internet is diametrically opposed to the traditional telecoms attitude. Of course, disruptive elements in the telecoms market will advocate change, but on the whole, conflict will continue. Remember, these internet companies are in a very good financial position — especially Google. Their dollars could resolve this conflict through the artificial dissemination of disruptive approaches such as the ad-funded model, which could spread like wildfire in highly competitive and churn-susceptible markets.

It looks like Stuart wrote the article dated November 6, before the announcement of the Open Handset Alliance (this concerns mostly the end of the article and not the part quoted here).