TechCrunch recently posted an article about Facebook jumping onto the Location CheckIn bandwagon. However instead of using the newer iphone styled FourSquare, Gowalla, Rummble types Apps, they have chosen to go with window stickers with QRCodes: http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/19/facebook-qr-codes-location
They are many comments in response to this post as to why they chose QR Codes....and this was my comment to those responses ;-)
Still less than 30% market share have smart phones… much less with GPS. Even less that are iPhones or Android. Even less that have downloaded one of the many ‘Checkin’ apps. As a business, why limit your addressable market with this approach?
Even for those phones without GPS, getting the location of a mobile from a mobile operator(s) is an expensive exercise. You pay per request. So if a consumer wants to ‘CheckIn’ and they don’t have a smart phone or without GPS, how does one tell the Operator to ‘locate’ that individual? With what identifier? You don’t know their mobile number, IMEI or anything. So that doesn’t work. The mobile user needs to be proactive to trigger this workaround. So why not make the take a photo/scan, use an App, or send a text/email/IM?
The reason I see fb doing this is that like the author says, even though 4Sq is trendy, it has only 1mil users ( I’m not scoffing at this…well done to them ), however fb have 450mil…and fb know that not all their users have GPS enabled smart phones…so they are taking an approach that is more broadly available to the mass market. Despite the growth of Mobile SoMe apps, SMS growth is still growing faster! Not everything needs to be cutting edge to be commercially attractive. The German startup ’servtag’ mentioned in an earlier comment above took a different approach and offered sms checkins.
However I don’t think fb are chasing just checkins…if they can get more businesses, products, people, places, events, services etc use this, then it drives more people & businesses back to fb where people can review/share etc etc on what they have just tagged something like what StickyBits are doing:http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2010/03/11/Stickybits-Adds-Social-Media-Dimension-To-Bar-Codes.aspx
Google also have done something similar to fb recently for their Favourite Places initiative…100,000 QRcoded stickers for shops etc in the US to allow consumers to read reviews, click on ads, get offers etc before entering.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuVSpG-ZdkU However this will be more of threat to yelp, toptable, trustedplaces etc and other review sites.
Both google and facebook could have used the latest & greatest cutting edge technologies, including augmented reality apps (they have the skills, budget and kit to do it), however I think they have made a strategic assessment of the current addressable market (mobile phone capabilities) and more importantly, the IT capabilities/knowledge (lack of) of the Small Business Owners that will should benefit from these initiatives.
Nevertheless, it appears that people love or hate every approach. There is no one clear ‘best method’. Some people prefer GPS, some prefer an iPhone App, some QRCodes, some MsTags, or even Augmented Reality. Many folks will still prefer SMS, or Instant Messaging, Skype, Pic Msg or even Email for those BB users. Well, from a business perspective, why not support them all?
We’ve taken the approach to provide a solution that supports many of these technologies all wrapped up into one service. Check it out at http://url.spotid.me/01
I'm on twitter: @lukeglen
From your phone, download a reader for QR Codes at url.spotid.me/qk. or Ms Tags from url.spotid.me/nk. Once installed, take a photo of the sample images below to get a sample Spot Response. Click image for larger version.
