Little known insider info...

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I have some friends in the telecommunications industry, yes, I know it's hard to think of me having friends, but just look at it as hope for my geek brethren.   As I was saying, I chased up my friends on the inside trying to get the goss on the iPhone launch for Telstra.  Well, I even offered chocolate but no dice, this could mean two things, 1) There is no news regarding the iPhone launch for Telstra or, 2) I need to get some new friends, ones who are easier to bribe with chocolate.

It wasn't all a loss though as they sent me this link:

http://www.qrious.com.au/main.html

I got this a few days ago, and due to being a little busy I didn't get to post about it.  There was this cool countdown thing and it was all mysterious, but there wasn't much actual information.  I did fire out the link on Twitter in the hope that a new friend may have some insight, which got me this link this morning:

www.qmcodes.com

In the tech world we see a lot of crazy ideas, and most of the those ideas stay crazy.  If you are a fan of the TWIT Network you may have heard the discussion about adding a barcode reader on the iPhone.  The idea was that you would be able to walk into the store and using a app on the iPhone from, say, Amazon, scan the barcode of the item you want and purchase the item online and have it sent to your home.  But this isn't it, I think.

Although this Telstra service will probably turn into another of their gimmicky services that goes nowhere, I have to give them points for trying.  And maybe it is the start of something useful, maybe Myer or Big W will pick up on it and we will be able to walk in, make a wish list by taking pictures of the Qmcodes with our phones, and order the items online after we have checked that the item will fit, plug in, or is approved by the significant other.

It looks like only a couple of phones will be able to work with Telstra's version of Qmcodes, although we may be able to download the software from qmcodes.com.  That being said, I'll be waiting till there is more to do than just checking out old Bond clips.

Jason Remnant

Comments

[The insider]

The Q-Codes aren't just for purchasing and yes you'll need to download software onto your phone so that your phone can "read" the pic. Some Q-codes will take you directly to a mobile website, or give you access to certain promo's. It might be a little slow at first, but it has major gimmicky potential so keep your eyes peeled for further marketing. Now more importantly, where's this promised chocolate supposed to materialize from??

[dean collins]

Hi Jason,

couple of quick corrections - pretty much any smartphone with a camera will be able to run a QR reader - yes Telstras reader is limited (actually theirs is just the inigma reader so if you dont want to wait go and download the inigma application from their website), however there is also Quickmark and Kaywa.

Look around you'll find one to suit.

Regarding QR applications why not check out my site where I list some other uses apart from e-commerce
www.Cognation.net/QR

Cheers,
Dean Collins
www.Collins.net.pr/blog

[dean collins]

oh btw as per this post - you cant actually use a qr reader on iphones at the moment without jailbreaking them :)

http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/qr-codes-in-smh.html

cheers,
Dean

[Jason]

Thanks Dean and the insider I'm going to keep an eye on this one as the big T rolls it out. I'm interested as to what else can be done with QR, will be checking Dean's site.

Jason