Dan Frommer at Silicon Alley Insider reported today that Google’s next big idea for print ads is small 2D barcodes that contain a URL that can be scanned by a mobile phone’s camera device. Instead of punching in the sites location on a keypad, the scanning software will pick it up and send you there immediately.

This may seem like an unlikely idea if it didn’t already exist. In Japan, this practice is already common, but there are several hurdles to go over for it to begin yielding results here in the states.

First of all, it’s estimated that between 1% and 10% (more likely 1%) of Americans’ mobile devices have the software necessary to pull this off right now. Deals would need to be made not only with wireless carriers like Verizon and AT&T, but with the device makers like Nokia and Samsung. After that, the revenue would have to be split up to everyone’s liking.

There is a potential remedy on the horizon to make all of this happen: Android. Google will have free reign of what software we have if we carry an Android phone, but currently, exactly zero phones have Android. You can download the decoding software here and for Nokia phones here, but if Google is counting on people downloading software that helps them read ads better, they’re not going to get far.

Supposedly, part of the popularity for the ads in Japan is that they often contain promotions or coupons. Mystery may be a key component in getting people to utilize these bar codes. If there may be something cool on the other end that the user doesn’t know about, they will be more likely to scan the barcodes to see what’s up. Marketers will have to consider this, especially early on the process, so people get excited about whats going to show up on their web browser and lead them to scan every ad they see from then on after.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 12:57 pmand is filed under Business, Search Engine Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.