Microsoft readies colorful QR code competitor

While QR codes and their ilk have been big in Japan for years, they haven't exactly been quick to catch on 'round these parts, where we've had to be content with old school bar bodes for our product identification needs. Microsoft looks to be trying to change that situation, however, with the company set to roll out its so-called High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB) later this year with the assistance of the International Standard Audiovisual Number International Agency (ISAN-IA). While their use will apparently initially be limited to DVD media, Microsoft eventually sees the codes being used on TV, in magazines, and on billboards (among other places), from which you'll be able to scan 'em with your cellphone to get additional information about a product. Of course, good looks are the codes' only selling point, with Microsoft also promising that they'll make anything tagged with them harder to counterfeit.

[eh @ Apr 16th 2007 10:54PM]

Just goes to show how l33t cellphones have been in Japan all this time. Scanning a barcode on tv with your phone? Thats like the freakin JETSONS man

[badmoon @ Apr 17th 2007 8:04PM]

Do you guys remember the Qcat from radio shack . sounds like that

[kingofwale @ Apr 16th 2007 11:12PM]

who knows, maybe that barcode thing will actually get Japanese to BUY a xbox360.. although I wouldn't count on it

let's just hope the barcode will help prevent disc scratching, but i wouldn't count on that either.

[DidYouLoseASock @ Apr 16th 2007 11:23PM]

QR codes, HCCB, ISAN-IA, DVD, TV... WTF is up with all the initials.

[Chris @ Apr 16th 2007 11:26PM]

wow, haven't seen this many typo's in one post in a long time

[Chris @ Apr 16th 2007 11:27PM]

oh, and that thing doens't look so hard to fake

[cc @ Apr 16th 2007 11:53PM]

Mr. Red, where do you get your info? 10 year old Wesley Snipes/Sean Connery movies? I wouldn't say the Japanese won't buy anything not made by a Japanese company... some Japanese cell carriers are moving Samsungs and even Blackberries at a brisk pace these days. iPods outsell all the Japanese MP3 players and Macs are seen as more trendy than any Fujitsu, Sony, or NEC computer. Go into any company and you'll find more Dells than any Japanese brand (unless of course the company happens to make computers themselves).

And if you look at fashion, I think everyone in the entire country owns at least one item with Vuitton, Gucci, or some other high-end Western fashion label attached. (Hell, even the Ford Taurus was a "cool" car among young people... as were the Chevy Astrovan and quite a few other impractical vehicles from the States.)

[kingofwale @ Apr 16th 2007 11:53PM]

>Japanese wont buy it unless japan makes it,


I guess somehow Ipods were made by Japanese. Thanks for telling me that.

[Eric @ Apr 17th 2007 12:01AM]

I happen to be visiting japan right now, and those QC codes are freaky awesome. At the bus stop, I scan the sign with the bus times, and my phone opens up an internet page that says the bus will be here in 5 minutes.

QC codes still have one very large advantage over these colorful things. They're square dots. Squares are easier to print, and easier for a low-resolution fixed-focus CCD to scan.

[chris.ismael @ Apr 17th 2007 12:08AM]

hmm those small triangles will be a bit more painful to tattoo on the body than the current vertical bar codes

[TIMMAH! @ Apr 17th 2007 2:40AM]

"QC codes still have one very large advantage over these colorful things. They're square dots. Squares are easier to print, and easier for a low-resolution fixed-focus CCD to scan."

Also colors in printing tends to shift over time, I think the QC codes would be more resilient to ink aging.

[Ciego @ Apr 17th 2007 8:40AM]

Sounds like a ripoff of Neomedia's Quode system.

[Vagrant @ Apr 17th 2007 9:28AM]

1. QR codes have been around for a while and work great. (Why re-invent the wheel?)
2. No licensing issues with QR codes. (That's why they re-invent the wheel...money)
3. Most of these codes are too small anyways, unless your phone has a macro lens.

[tcc3 @ Apr 17th 2007 11:35AM]

Great now the Viva Pinata song will be stuck in my head all day.

[Jonathan Sundy @ Apr 17th 2007 2:08PM]

It only does 4 or 8 hues, which I assume are distinct enough that bleeding and fading won't be much of an issue.

The colors also allow these to hold a lot more info than black and white barcodes, so do the triangles over squares.

It has some merit, I just don't think our culture would really make use of it... then against Microsoft has the weight to really push something like this mainstream in the US.

[benjamin :? @ Apr 17th 2007 5:06PM]

wow,, i never realised an original bar code was so easy to copy?!
& wouldnt a cell phone be able to recognise a normal bar code easier than one of these new colourful codes? asides, its not that wonderful technology,, all it does is save you the hassle of pushing a few buttons to get the information you require,, its another invention to help us get lazy:)
maybe microsh*t only invented them to try & create a Total world domination.

[Roger @ Apr 24th 2007 5:14PM]

Well, I thought that one of the big companies will come out with their own code and it doesn't surprise me that it is Microsoft. Makes sense if you think you can make it (as for the money), but doesn't really enhance your image (you want to put your own standard on everyone else).

I think Nokia's move for QR Code and Datamatrix (see their Beta Labs Project) is just so much smarter. And with the current Google competition, I as Microsoft, would try to be smarter...

And yes, Japan, Taiwan, China and Europe are heavily under QR Code influence... influenza;)

[Garrett @ Jun 25th 2007 10:14AM]

Bad idea. Why do companies insist on changing the world? QR Codes, Data Matrix have been in use in cell phone apps worldwide for sometime now. The comments above
about square vs. triangular as it relates to printing are right on.

http://community.omniplanar.com/controlpanel/blogs/posteditor.aspx?SelectedNavItem=Posts§ionid=7&postid=109

[badmoon @ Nov 28th 2008 11:12PM]

Do you guys remember the Qcat from radio shack . sounds like that

[Quikboy @ Jan 10th 2009 1:27PM]

It's out now. It's called Microsoft Tag. It's pretty neat actually:

http://www.microsoft.com/tag/

Hope Engadget does a new post about it.