Or QR?

As I was working on dealerELITE the other night, something occurred to me while playing with QR Codes... why do some technologies fail, and others prosper? Do we as a consumer/user have something to do with this?

I think so. Remember Beta vs. VHS? Well, Beta was smaller, cheaper, and more exciting. But, VHS won the battle. Why? Was it the marketing, the consumer usage, or the consumer perception? It ultimately won because you could fit more video on it. With longer films, it was a given.

I think the consumer perception is the strongest however. Meaning, what we see as a better solution as a user. There was also the miniDISC from Sony. It flopped. It was a great product, but the consumer didn't see the niche yet. This is my thinking with the QR Codes. Is it the "Beta" or the "VHS"?

It's great technology; taking something physical and turning it digital. I spoke with a service manager the other day and I brought QRs to his attention saying he can do a lot with this technology in the service department. He said he remembered seeing these QR codes in his Golf magazine saying to scan to watch a video. The service manager then said to me, how can you watch a video in a magazine? Great technology! BUT, will it catch on because the mass consumer market/users haven't seen its true niche yet?

Well, that's where WE come in; the end user. WE decide what fails, and what wins. But this goes far beyond QR codes... It's facebook vs. Yahoo Geocities. Remember that? Great idea, but we didn't find its niche yet. Nintendo? Bingo, found its niche and adapted to the times.

Here's where all this is going... WE make things happen. I think if I was to write this blog 5 years from now, I would be saying, "Remember bar codes vs. QR codes?" And QR codes would have won, because we've found its niche over the bar code. That's because in the age of bar codes, we all didn't have cell phones equipped to scan them like we do now with smartphones. If you like a technology, use it, and make it mainstream.

By the way, how did you receive this blog...? Hmm?