A few years ago I met with Dennis Hettema in a bar in Amsterdam to talk about ShotCodes. Dennis is one of the founders of OP3. OP3 is the company that invented shotcodes and the software to read them. A ShotCode is similar to a Barcode but has a different form.
Today I read an interview with Dennis on Blueace. Ever since we met I try to keep up-to-date with what is happening with Dennis and OP3.
But even after a few years I still don’t understand the concept. I don’t think that ShotCodes won’t be popular or that OP3 won’t make money but I just don’t see why ShotCodes are cool.
Why would I want to use it?
What is the added benefit of a round barcode?
On which occasion would I be gratefull to have a ShotCode?
When will a ShotCode save my life…
Or at least make my life more convenient?
I wonder if I will ever understand but at least someone does. Mellisa had a ShotCodes tattood in her neck. She writes about it on her blog: “The Needle“.
Is that a real tattoo???
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9 Responses to “Shotcodes: why?”
Hi Boris, thanks for the blog. AFAIK the ink is real. I just heard about Melissa through my RSS reader and she emailed me after I responded to her post. In her own words the “scanability” is secundairy, she likes the shape and enjoys explaining what the symbol in her neck actually is.
I don’t think we’ll ever save your life, but once you’ve installed the software I’m positive we can make it more convenient ;)
Hi Dennis, I wish I could try it. Maybe that would convince me! But Blackberry isn’t supported yet. Sigh…
But now that you are heree maybe you can tell us what the killer app of Shotcode is going to be?
you’re right, blackberrys arent very high on our development list, sorry about that.
Regarding your killer-app q:
We’re running an immense amount of different projects as you can do so much with ShotCodes, and the killer-app question is a recurring theme amongst many of these projects. But I’d like to think, why wouldn’t one-click-access to any form of online content be the killer app?
In Japan 68,8% of the population uses mobile barcode scanning on a daily basis, and what do they use it for? Everything you can imagine and more. ;)
I loved this idea for example (no idea what they say about ShotCode though) http://www.lospremiagrumi.com/2006/10/14/tokyo/
According to some research done amongst Japanese mobile scanners, the preffered scan interface was magazines. I’m convinced that that trend will continue in the rest of the world, which is why we’re so interested in the publishing industry.
Sorry to press on but I stll want to know the details! Consider the following scenario: tommorow I’m meeting my mother in law. She askes me why ShotCodes are cool. I can’t say:
The Japanese use it all the time
There is an immense ammount of projects using them
The preffered scan interface is magazines
I need to be able to explain in one sentence why a ShotCode is cool for everybody and at this moment with the information I have I still can’t explain it.
PS: The italian text means something like this: “details of city ADV, Tokyo is from learning! and here under… ADV and piece of furniture, but were necessary the shotcode?”
ShotCodes are cool because all you have to do is point and click in order to connect to any online source on your mobile phone.
an illustration:
typing http://www.bomega.com on my standard camphone would cost me at least 36 keystrokes. At this point in time I’ve been busy for a little over a minute and I’m still only at your frontpage. I would probably have to surf deeper to get to the nitty gritty interesting stuff. With ShotCode this problem can be taken away.
Lets say I would say more dumb things then I usually do and, in some wild twist of fate, this becomes newsworthy. If you would want to guide people directly to me making an arse of myself all you’d have to do is point your ShotCode to the correct URL. This ShotCode could be on your businesscards, t-shirt, bumper-sticker… or hey… why not tattooed on your neck ;)
Another huge advantage is that offline information becomes accessible on impulse, you like it, you click it, you read (interact with) it. When ShotCode becomes standard I’m sure I would buy many more concert tickets because I could do so when I see the ad for the concert. Nowadays I hardly ever go to concerts because I always forget to buy the tickets.
I hope this makes at least some sense for your mother-in-law, mine got it the first time she saw it ;)
We should continue this discussion with a videocamera in place so I can ask more questions. I still didn’t get the answer I want but this might not be the place to ask it. To be continued!
i really like the concert example, but you aways get stuck on the “how to pay” system provided by the ticketservice. If you combine the shotcode software with paypal, (dutch)ideal or likewise service then it would be really interesting. a digital “chipknip”, a shotcode wallet…. etc. Just buy directly from a magazine. Looking forward to that.
Hi Michiel: the concert example is nice but has a big flaw. Concert posters are made to be viewed form a large distance. Even if you pass one by on your bike it is generally meters away from you. It just isn’t a medium to interact with up close. I don’t think people will get of their bike or out of their cars to walk up to posters to take a picture of a shotcode. Its all about convenience isn’t it?
Well…. don’t forget about adverts in newspapers, magazine, bussstops, etc.