Microsoft Tags the world with new 2D colour barcode system

 

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Posted on 3 Feb 2010 at 17:10

Microsoft has launched Tag, a new 2D barcode system that uses colours and shapes to embed web addresses and other marketing materials in real-world products.

Users can scan a Tag attached to a product using their mobile phone's camera, and it will let them browse to the product's web page, play videos or access other marketing materials. When the Tag's functions are accessed in this way, Microsoft records the transaction for the supplier and thus can provide detailed analytics to help in marketing campaigns.

Users can scan Tags using a free mobile app, downloadable from http://gettag.mobi. The app is available for iPhone, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Java and some editions of Symbian. Android and PalmOS versions are "coming soon", while some version of Symbian are not supported at all.

There are already a number of 2D barcode schemes in existence. Standard UPC barcodes are the dominant format, and are used not only to record product sales, but also to track consumers. There are already apps available for the iPhone and Android that let you scan UPC barcodes to look up product information on the web, but the product manufacturer doesn't receive any notification that its products have been scanned.

The Aztec code is used mainly by public transport bodies, such as the Heathrow Express and National Express East Coast railway line, to track tickets. Courier company UPS uses MaxiCodes to track parcels, while the QR (Quick Response) code is popular in Japan, where it's often seen on outdoor advertisements. These codes are all public domain, so anyone can create them, and many mobile barcode scanning apps support multiple types of code.

Where Microsoft's Tag differs is that the information encoded in the tag can be changed just by visiting the Tag site and editing the Tag, and it can encode not only web URLs, but text and video content. The link or content is not actually in the Tag; instead, the Tag contains a unique code which is sent to Microsoft's Tag servers. The server then looks up the code and sends back the content linked to that code.

Tag also differs in that it's not designed for consumers but for marketers. By acting as a go-between, Microsoft can track the number of people who look up each tag, and thus provide demographics and other valuable marketing data to suppliers. Creating tags for both commercial and non-commercial use is free during the beta period, but at some point Microsoft will start charging users to create tags.

While Tag has many advantages - it's smaller, can use colours and provides rich marketing data to suppliers - it seems to us like Microsoft is re-inventing the wheel just to make sure it gets a cut every time you go for a drive. The company is in talks to have the Tag used as part of a new International Standard Audiovisual Number (ISAN) standard.

Author: Barry de la Rosa