New Cool Print-to-Mobile Tools

Instead having people attempting to key in those long text messages or website addresses on their phone, we use the mobile phones’ built-in camera to do it all for them. i.e. To start, the phone instantly captures specific instructions from any printed item. e.g.:

Just snap a photo of the barcode which then:

1. tells the Phone web browser to go directly to the product providers webpage for more information, even to buy the product or
2. prepares the phone to email or forward a special message on, with a link back to the suppliers web page with a special offer or
3. simply tells the phone to just save the details into it’s built-in address book or perhaps use the message as a discount voucher.

All this could be very handy if say you see a promotion on a magazine ad, website page, on a building, even street, realty or bus sign, and don’t have time to take down all the details. Now you’d just snap a photo of it and the special QR barcode (left) included in the photo. This provides the information for the phone to do its special ‘thing’, like sending you to the corresponding website on that product or property or translating it into readable text. This will really come into it’s own this year as more people upgrade their phones as the newer 3G networks expand.

Simply  TXT QR to 710

But why wait? Many Vodafone users here with the modern camera phone may already have this QR capability today and don’t know it. Simply  TXT QR to 710. They then get a link to download the correct free QR Code reader.  (For full details click here)

As discovered overseas, it’s certainly a great way to connect with a youth market that’s notoriously difficult to reach – not just because it offers something new and different for them to interact with, but also because it generates a lot of street buzz.

Looking for more neat QR code ideas? View the videos below:

Call us on how to add your personal QR code to your next website, brochure, flyer, poster or business card .

As was once remarked by a great scientist*, to know the future, watch your kids, don’t ask the academics. So, I’ve been watching mine and other kids recently, seeing how they interact with others and use emerging technology. Conclusion?

The small, not the large screen will dominate

Anyone who’s visited South Korea or Japan in recent years will know how the small screen mobile phone has dominated the lives of their teenagers. A friend’s 14 yr old son here does the same. He always uses his iTouch to surf the web, answer emails, listen to music, watch videos, often ignoring the bigger screen TV and his own laptop.

I asked him why he didn’t use his laptop for web access? "No, it’s stupid – laptops are just for old people" he said "much easier and faster on the iTouch".

Wow. So, where does all this leave direct marketers? I guess it’s that we need to look at tools and applications like this that puts more power in the hands of users and let’s them interact on their terms, not ours.

QR barcodes is another particularly interesting print-mobile-web application that will likely play a big part in coming years. Marketers could easily (and cheaply) use these types of innovative tools to boast sales. There’s likely to be many more coming. Ask your kids, they’ll know…

* Clifford Stoll on TED