While an official statement would be nice, I suspect at least one reason is right in the article: "Security researcher Mustafa Al-Bassam reported on Twitter th

While an official statement would be nice, I suspect at least one reason is right in the article: "Security researcher Mustafa Al-Bassam reported on Twitter that he "almost had a heart attack" when he walked into a McDonald's and was prompted on his phone to download the fast food restaurant's app." Google makes most of its money selling your attention to marketers. This could easily be used to tailor ads. Within 100 yards of Barnes and Noble? "Ding! Get 10% off your purchase when you present this QR code!"