What are QR Barcodes?
The encoded data can comprise several types of information, i.e. Kanji (and / or Kana) (maximum of 1817 characters), binary (maximum 2953 bytes), numeric (maximum 7089 characters) and alphanumerical (maximum 4296 characters) symbols.
The barcode looks like a lot of micro black squares with three rather bigger squares on a white background. (Notice the accompanying QR Code.) The three larger sized squares are just there to point out which direction the code is aligned - the barcode can be scanned in any direction but the QR scanner application will be able to properly understand the information. The barcode is usually shown with two larger sized squares at the very top, and a single bigger square at the lowermost left side.
QR barcodes were first created for the automobile field – originally created by Toyota subsidiary, Denso Wave, in 1994 to monitor motor-vehicles in the course of the manufacturing process. It then grew to become popular, outside of the automotive industry in Japan, due to the reason that the QR code can carry a large amount of information and can be decoded at a very fast speed. The QR code then became popular in the UK, and thereafter the popularity extended globally.
It is nonetheless, still debateable about whether QR codes is likely to grow in popularity or not, but since nearly all smartphones now come out with QR code-reading software, it's likely to become (and stay) even more popular as some time passes.
According to a study, by June 2011, 14 million people had scanned a QR code on their smartphone. Some smartphones that have this ability (either with a preloaded program, or with a downloaded program): Blackberry, Nokia, Android and Nintendo 3DS.
Plenty of people have begun making use of QR barcodes for advertising campaigns. It's a wonderful way to combine offline advertising campaigns with online advertising. Lately, QR barcodes are displayed on pamphlets, billboards, company cards and even shorts!
There are a lot of websites that an individual can make use of to create QR codes... By searching the words "QR Code Generator" on Google, you get a million results! As a matter of fact, Google themselves have a QR Code Generator tool - however this tool is restricted to URL encoding only.
Just remember that QR codes can be created totally free as there are folks that would try to charge you a fee for this "work"!