The Death of the QR Code

Well it seems the QR code phenomenon has died just as quickly as it rose to popularity this year. It seemed that everywhere you turned on the web over the course of 2011, you'd be hard pressed not to easily find an article or stat or random finding about the ever-ambiguous QR code. For a while there, those little buggers seemed to be all the rage. It looked as though they were poised to be the next big marketing thing. Even I imagined that they would be almost everywhere soon earlier this year. It appears as though I was wrong. The QR code has fallen in popularity so fast it's making my head spin.

This infographic I found via PSI's Twitter feed this morning solidified that even the most technologically savvy people on the planet, young people (18-25) really don't give a crap about QR codes. If you look at past trends and other various fads of the past, this group was the driving force behind them. So when a solid chunk of the young society thinks scanning a QR code is a waste of time, you'd better believe that it's going to die off sooner than you think.

It's a shame really, because I honestly thought that the QR code was going to explode onto the masses. it's a novel concept and lends itself well to various marketing campaigns, but that certain "magic" or "spark" just was not there to get the ball rolling. The QR scanner apps were also great in theory, just too bulky and just plain got in the way and took too much time to scan a so called "Quick-Response" barcode. I mean seriously, it takes about 15-20 seconds just to complete the task, which while it may not seem like a long time, it's just not quick enough. Unlock the phone. Navigate to the app. Launch said app. Wait for it load. Focus and steady camera. Snap picture. Wait for network to load content. That's an eternity. Shame.

Maybe someday they'll make a comeback. Apps could develop further to be faster. Or phone manufacturers would implement the technology inherently into the phone's camera system to automatically recognize a QR code. Or even maybe the youth will stand behind it and make it explode like marketing folks thought it would. Who knows? But most likely you'll never even remember what a QR code was by the end of next year. Augmented Reality has come a long way, but that still has a ways to go. The point is that technology is always moving ahead, ever-changing, and ever-evolving. You gotta crack a few eggs if you wanna make an omelet.

Be well.

P.S.
Here's another great article I found on the failure of the QR code. 



Original Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net