A Toronto-based software developer wants to bring Quick Response (QR) codes to Canada, and an industry analyst says this may appeal to companies offering products and services to youth.
Luna Development announced Monday its Blitzkap applications, which use a Windows Mobile development platform designed to let users create QR codes on smart phones or PDAs with cameras. QR codes are two-dimensional images similar to bar codes that contain information on links to Web sites or phone numbers.
QR codes were originally developed by Tokyo-based Denso Wave Inc. and are common in Japan. When published in print form – on billboards, transit ads, vehicles or other media – consumers can then take pictures of the images and have them converted to links, phone numbers or other advertising messages.
“The basic function is to eliminate typing and allow you to take a code off paper media and any media that’s printable and transfer it to an electronic form,” said Greg Hayden, CTO for Toronto-based Luna, which is in talks with Canadian carriers – which it will not name – in hopes of making the technology available to Canadian businesses.
The Luna products announced this week – Blitzkap and Blitkap X – will work on any device with a camera with either the Windows Mobile 5 or 6 operating system. Hayden said the camera should be at least 3 Megapixels, and Luna is testing the product on other devices, including the Treo. The software needed to create the QR codes is free, and it will be up to the carriers and handsets manufacturers to make the readers available for their handsets, Hayden said.
