James SpillaneWhile we maintain that NFC is still a technology of the future, the reality of it being implemented in various ways in North America is drawing closer.
There’s so much buzz in the Twitter world that this marks the death of the QR Code. I don’t believe that for a second because these technologies compete with one another but they also complement one another.
Here is the Google Nexus S Video that features the “NFC smartchip” embedded into a product, just as bluetooth could be embedded into a product.
Google had made the announcement yesterday that they would no longer support QR Codes in light of image-recognition technology like Google Goggles:
This was also featured in a French rap video recently posted by Google Goggles’ product manager Shailesh Nalawadi on Google Buzz:
As image-recognition technology gets better, Google Goggles will be able to read curved items, not just flat items that will direct you somewhere through 2D barcodes or into the 3D world of augmented reality.
It’s what is known by some as the outernet, or in pop culture, The Matrix, both activated by 3D glasses and smartphones, and all the useful purposes 3D can serve going forward towards the world of information and consumerism.
I do feel that if Android’s surge in the smartphone market continues that Google Goggles and image-recognition technology could become an accepted medium too.
QR Codes are driven by tech communities that are running on the open-source nature of the digital barcode, allowing anyone to generate one and link it anywhere on the World Wide Web, ineffectively or not, for better or worse.
All these technologies seem to serve a different purpose. Google seems more interested in visual search, Apple in the power of barcodes, and it’s up to society what they’d like to do with the easily generatable QR Code which is best used when linked to a mobile smartsite/microsite.
The partnership of Apple and Layar, the world’s first 3D browser developed by IBM suggests that Apple is moving in the direction of printed digital barcode activated payments and augmented reality. A direction that could see the standardization of the outernet for the general public’s use, much like the Internet was invented and eventually became known as the World Wide Web in 1991.
Google seems to be moving in the direction of NFC activated payments, and smartchip technology instead of printed barcodes on products. In terms of 3D, they wish that you activate it through image-recognition technology using Google Goggles, or through communication with smart products.
Just remember before you declare a victor that Apple, IBM and Google have all won in different ways in the past, and they will continue to win in those different, yet diversified ways of mobile media.
In Japan, which is likely 15 years ahead of us in terms of technological innovation, especially in mobile, all the technologies we have talked about here have thrived in different ways, for they all represent a different purpose.
It’s the same in mobile media, understand how to use all the weapons available, and you’ll be the most successful. Instead of picking out one clear winner, because never does just one company win all the time, everyday, on every initative they’ve launched, do they?
Author: Dan Verhaeghe is the Marketing Specialist and New Media Expert at McLoughlin Promotions. He can be reached for questions, comments and inquiries at [email protected] or at 905-238-8973 ext. 233
This article was written for Business 2 Community by James Spillane.
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Can we use NFC on TV ads? Can we use NFC on flyers? Can we use NFC on a Coca-Cola bottle? Can we use NFC on a book?
This time, I agree with Apple.