by SEO & Affiliate Consultant
M. Thomson
M. Thomson
Microsoft has made its move into the mobile barcode market with its announcement of Microsoft Tag. Microsoft Tag is a mobile barcode technology similar to QR-Code, Datamatrix and ShotCode with the exception that it contains colours rather than solely black and white.So what is the difference between Microsoft Tag and other mobile barcodes? Colour. The only real difference between a Microsoft Tag and any other mainstream mobile barcode technology in the Western market is colour. From press and media clippings, part of Microsoft's pitch on Microsoft Tag, other than colour, is size. Microsoft claims that their tags are superior to any other barcodes as they can store more information.
Microsoft Tag works by a user creating an account then subsequently setting the type of information they would like to hold within their barcode, for example a vCard. The user can then select a size, look and render type before generating their barcode.
Other mobile barcode technologies, such as a QR-Code, hold the information you want within the image itself; Microsoft Tag does the same, except it only holds a location of a URL or server from which it then retrieves the data you stored.
Funnily enough, QR-Codes and Datamatrix codes can be set up to do a very similar task; all you need to do is host, for example, a vCard on your website then link your QR-Code to that location. Upon scanning, your mobile phone will then visit the link and download the vCard.
Try to think of Microsoft Tag as the TinyURL of the mobile barcode world, but with colour. Microsoft is not the only company to have developed a TinyURL barcode technology. ShotCode, a barcode developed High Energy Magic of Cambridge University works in exactly the same way; it links a user to a server containing the required data.
On the plus side, Microsoft Tag does allow users to create and track their tag which is useful from a marketing perspective as you can use this data as a metric.
Microsoft vs Google
For a while now, Google has been using QR-Code within PrintAds in newspapers in the US. Why? Because, newspapers are usually printed in black and white, which Microsoft Tag is not. This may suggest that Microsoft will not make a move into the newspaper market.
Google also has a project called ZXing (Zebra Crossing) which is a multi-format barcode scanner. This is the application used to power various Android applications such as CompareEverything (AndroidScan).
From the various Google Android applications, it looks as if Google will continue to use QR-Codes as the best delivery method of mobile barcodes. Not only Google, but major mobile phone player Nokia and Hewlett Packard have also expressed major interest in Denso Wave's QR-Code technology.
In conclusion, Microsoft Tag is a very useful tool. They are more aesthetically pleasing than a black and white barcode and with Microsoft's reach they well could overtake QR-Codes and become the "barcode" norm.
P.S. Try scanning the barcodes in this article. Winner will get a bottle of champagne. (Editor's note: prize has already been claimed by a speedy scanner!)
