USE CASE #1: QR Codes on a Webpage in general and QR Codes on DokoDare in particular

Why a QR Code on a webpage?
Many people say, that they don't understand why on earth someone should put a QR Code on a website as you are already have it before your eyes.

Well, in general, you are not glued to your PC screen 24 hours and so it makes a lot of sense to scan the QR Code and take the webpage with you when you are leaving the "big screen". Normally you also have more idle time when on the move than before a PC, so a QR Code helps you also to bookmark interesting things which cannot be read right now - as you are probably working.
Also the webpage and the mobile version can significantly diverge in what they offer as both screens have different advantages and disadvantages.

In the case of DokoDare this is even more true. The normal use case of going somewhere unknown was to 1) print the address with phone numbers and all 2) to go to map service 3) to print the map and note down phone numbers 4) to finally head to the place.
Now you find a place on DokoDare (example (web version not yet open to the public)), you scan the QR Code and you have everything with you - address, phone number, map, additional information. And even better, you have not only the place you are going to, but you also see nearby places (like nearest bus or tram station, a café where to wait when you are too early etc.)

Let me know if that has helped you or if you have something to add to it in the comments.

1) September 17, 2007

After reading an article on the Dubai blog about Kufi, architecture combining QR Codes and Kufi's makes a lot of sense for me. I close with:

And imagine the use in architecture, on a middle eastern telecom building full of kufi's and QR Codes.

See: Kufi and QR Code, post from September 17, 2007


2) During #IranElection on Twitter, this idea of Kufi and QR Codes reemerges in my mind
12:49 AM June 15, 2009
@MAMK idea: QR codes to facilitate planned protests. => in England they got around the perimeter rule this way. We'll see and watch
1:10 AM June 15, 2009
Iranian people turn digital smugglers in battle for information - Guardian.co.uk http://bit.ly/2M6sk - Simple Text QR Code could help

After having seen the Kufi on Khamenei's site, I remembered my Kufi post. And I think that this similarity could be well used.

4:43 AM June 16 , 2009
@MAMK @rafik @AugmentedAdvert - Addendum : (old post) Similarity of Kufi and QR Code http://mobile.kaywa.com/p777 and http://bit.ly/mQZtW


3) Today I discover Söhne & Partner's QR Code Building in Dubai (planning begun August 2008)
See Code Unique, Studio City Hotel. There is also an infosheet about Code Unique, Studio City Hotel (L.C.).



The Dubai QR Code meme comes full cercle. Still I continue to think that the combination of Kufi and QR Code is what would be even more interesting. Especially as the QR Code could help to be scanned by people who cannot read well. Somehow I also think about the cathedrals with their paintings which were there for the majority of people who could neither read nor understand latin. And somehow, in another way, this persists in Iran with the use of farsi (persian) and arabic. So imagine, you could either read the Kufi or scan the QR Code and hear the text in your language.

As you can see this post got a bit long and I apologize if not everything is clear and I mix too many things. To make it easy, I continue to call it the Dubai QR Code meme, but it brings up much more questions than this meme's name could express.

Despite the avalanche of mobile apps that let people access local information, the mobile browser is still the king when it comes to finding out what’s going on in your city or neighborhood.

From TC

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This will only increase in the future, when HTML 5 (see Wikipedia Entry as well) will finally show up. Apps became popular with the iPhone, but even if Apple gets even a bigger market share than now, the competition will increase (Android, Blackberry, Palm Pre etc.) and we get back to square one, meaning a heavily fractured marketplace.
The only way out of this, in the middle to long term is to see the web- aka mobile browser as the OS. So hopefully the current trend of the mobile browser remaining in the pole position will continue. It's in the best interest for all of us.

UPDATE:
(contrarian view) Rohit Sharma's The Browser Is Dead — Long Live the Browser
but see also Vic Gundotra about HTML 5, iPhone and Android

ANOTHER UPDATE:
App stores are not the future, says Google

The new japanese resident card - the Jukicard - comes now with a QR Code. As Switzerland voted recently about biometric passports (see also NZZ in german), why not adopt this too. Kaywa went already half way (although the nicer part of it).

Gil Beyda, managing partner at Genacast Ventures tells the MMF audience why Venture Capitalists are shy when it comes to investing in mobile. He goes on with:

“One: This is a brand new medium and device and we must look at it that way,” he said. “Two: It is not just a micro browser so we can’t take old paradigms and the way we were connected before and port it to mobile.”

Mr. Beyda also relayed that location is monumental, more so than with any other media.
He sees location based abilities as a differentiator for mobile devices because it is always with the consumer and is always tracking. Because of this, marketers can truly see the patters of usage and travel, giving them the advantage they need to turn basic metrics into revenue.

From Why venture capitalists aren’t eyeing mobile: MMF speaker via Mobile Zeitgeist


QR Code for MMF New York



QR Code for Grand Hyatt NYC




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