Creative uses of QR codes are cool, but I wonder if misapplication is going to hurt the concept. I was at a major mall here in South Africa, and a chain store,

Creative uses of QR codes are cool, but I wonder if misapplication is going to hurt the concept. I was at a major mall here in South Africa, and a chain store, Woolworths, had a large QR code stuck to its window. I use a low-end Blackberry (a typical phone around here), and I have a few different QR apps installed. Helpfully, the blurb under the QR code even recommended a reader. Problem was, my camera/app combinations could not read the code. It was large, so I had to step away from the window to get the whole thing in focus. When I tried, people walked in front of me, blocking my view, and something (glare?) confused the readers. I gave up after a few minutes. Would a better phone have made a difference? Probably. But my phone is quite typical of the type found in the target demographic. People who are exposed to frustrating experiences like mine are going to be put off. I hope the people who do T shirts, scarves, etc, actually pay attention to the readability of their codes. Here's someone else blogging on the Woolworths campaign - but unlike him, I doubt we will see much more QR from Woolworths for a while: http://www.marcforrest.com/2011/03/14/woolworths-climbs-on-the-qr-code-bandwagon/ http://www.marcforrest.com/2011/03/14/woolworths-climbs-on-t...