All about QR Codes - what are they and why do we need them?

While watching X factor final the other night, I saw this advert, paused the screen and thought, here we go - the world is about to change. Not because of Waitrose, but because of the little black and white square on the bottom of te screen. I heard about this technology last year (BBC 27 July 2009) where these BoKodes are only 3mm in diameter .

Let me explain what a QR Code is all about. They are like normal barcodes but can hold a lot more information - hence QR for Quick Response. If you have a smartphone, then scan the QR Code using the camera, connect to the web to see the webpage, reviews and price of the code you scanned. So who will use it? Everyone. Why? Because it's easy and you can price comparison shop or get extra information at a very fast pace. Are Google going to use it? Oh Yeah! This is where it get's interesting. Remember when Streetview came to Kenilworth? March 2010 - same time all the wiK photos were indexed to Picasa, well soon all the stores will have a QR Code on their door.

Google have Google Maps - We're a Favorite Place (see the video), yes I know that's the American spelling, but in this digital world even Google have to start somewhere - they have 100,000 businesses in 5,000 towns already  with no decision for the UK as yet. So what about the UK?  See for yourself, there are too many uses to mention. In Magazines, on TV, at school, on billboards, in shops, on packaging. For now see this idea that is catching on the great new way of shopping Does My Bum Look Big In This? It's a mCommerce Trend.