Why it has taken so long for this technology to reach North America

If you are wondering why you haven't seen very many TAGS or other 2D barcodes for that matter, you are not alone. Outside of Japan, where adoption of QR Codes is extensive, there are few examples despite the best efforts of a number of companies. Given the absence of barcodes, it follows that you would have little desire to have a reader. Coincidently, those who would benefit from using codes are reluctant since there are too few readers. So how do you grow a technology where producers and consumers are waiting on each other?

In our own experience, the same questions surface repeatedly. The mobile carriers and manufacturers say, "Why include the reader on our phones when Advertisers aren't putting TAGs on their ads". Advertisers, who have expressed the desire to use barcodes, remain inclined to wait until the reader is available on enough devices to make it worthwhile. Just like the paradoxical "chicken and the egg", the answer to who goes first has been elusive for a number of years.

With a 6-year head start, the Japanese are now using 2D codes and readers extensively. Their high adoption rate, attributed to the low cost for data (we understand that data was made freely available by their government) is more the result of 3GVision and DoCoMo, getting the readers installed on the phones. The reluctance of most carriers outside Japan to follow this course determined that the only alternative method of distribution was through the internet. A simple model for computer users but it meant that phone users had to manage the download and installation processes. While not that difficult, it certainly was another barrier to cross and contributory to delay.

So enter Microsoft Research and a brand new technology called TAG; available for download for most phones and to be included in all future Windows Phones™. We suspected it would take one of the phone manufacturers to step up and progress barcode readers since we knew it required someone that could act globally. So, it does not come as a surprise that Microsoft, with its global presence, is in position to lead with this technology. So while we at Luna will be coddling the eggs, you-know-who will be playing the role of..