.mobi Microsoft eliminates urls with GetTag.mobi -- and promotes it at Microsoft.com

[BocaVision]

...just when you thought the unhinged MobiPhobic gang could not become more enraged ... we have this ... now a .mobi will help curb the use of urls ...

http://www.microsoft.com/tag/content/why/

Snap. Blink. Wow!

Get the Microsoft Tag application for your phone.

It’s simple, useful, and fun. Download the free application to your phone and you’re ready to link real life with the digital world. See a Tag, snap it, and you’re conveniently connected to more information, exclusive discounts, movie trailers, video clips, exhibit details, maps and directions, and much more. It’s a shortcut to fun! Learn more

Tag means no more fumbling with URLs or texting shortcodes!

Just launch the Microsoft Tag application, snap the Tag, and in a blink you can view the content!

Go to gettag.mobi with your mobile phone, or click here to send an SMS with a download link to your phone.

The Possibilities are Endless!
Use Microsoft Tags for Your Business.
Make your offline media more effective, more measurable, more immersive, and more fun. Turn your advertisements, media, signage, packaging or storefronts into interactive experiences.

You control what gets seen when the Tag gets snapped. Add a Tag to your print-based ad, package, signage, outdoor advertisement, storefront, exhibit, video, magazine article, or just about any other object. Deliver the right information, when and where your customer wants it.

 

[ginggang]

I don't understand what this actualy does :td:

 

[dochlaggie]

maybe this is like a barcode??

I don't understand what this actualy does :td:

I am just guessing but maybe this tag is something like barcode??

I am pleased to see that google is using a mobi.

 

[meegwell]

There are barcodes that do this also, called Q codes, and as a matter of fact I talked with some friends about a business model like this. Here is a simple example: On an outdoor advertisement for a product or service (picture back seat of a cab, bus, sidewalk billboard, or indoor poster in a restaurant, doctors waiting room, etc) this little colorful Tag is present. You take your mobile device and snap a picture of it and it automatiically takes you to a website. THis is a great mobile web initiative - it eliminates the need to open a mobile browser and type in a url if you want to access more information from a product or service you see while you're on the go.

 

[Seabass]

So....if I understand this correctly..... other than the gettag.mobi site.....all other .mobi domains, including the .com, .net , etc......will be useless, or at least irrelevant, in these scenarios?

 

[meegwell]

So....if I understand this correctly..... other than the gettag.mobi site.....all other .mobi domains, including the .com, .net , etc......will be useless, or at least irrelevant, in these scenarios?

No. This is not a ".mobi" thing. It is a great mobile thing, period. The Tag will take you to any site the marketer deems good for you to view on your phone/mobile device.

It is nice for .mobi, however, that Microsoft chose a .mobi domain for it's mobile download center for the mobile app.

Here is another example: you are leaving the airport walking down those long corridors full of framed ad posters on your way to check in the hotel for your business trip. A close up of a huge juicy filet mignon catches your eye. There is a tag on the poster in the lower corner that says "tag this for full menu, directions, and online reservations"

Without even having to stop walking you snap a shot of the tag, (automatically bringing your device to a built for mobile site) - browse the menue, store the address, and make a reservation before you even get to your cab.

More info/explanations:

http://www.steponesystems.com/blog/

http://ces.cnet.com/?keyword=itunes+tagging

 

[BocaVision]

So....if I understand this correctly..... other than the gettag.mobi site.....all other .mobi domains, including the .com, .net , etc......will be useless, or at least irrelevant, in these scenarios?

Correct -- your phone is a barcode reader.

In Japan, they are one step ahead with Audio Barcodes -- data (urls) embedded in sound waves are captured by target devices with a mobile phone, analyzed by unique software, and then used by your mobile phone. (i.e. audio barcodes projected from a television or radio)

-- ultimately, the audio barcode will resolve(land) at a website with a url (I suppose)

 

[cobo]

This is some very cool stuff here!
Thanks for the post!
Repped! Arrrgggh! At least I tried to rep you!

 

[ecigs.net]

If you use Firefox, there is a plug-in called: Mobile Barcoder. http://sample.org.uk/blog/tag/barcode

From the firefox website...

A Mobile Code (aka 2D barcodes, QR Codes, Data Matrix, Semacode) is a simple way of transferring text and links from print or a computer screen onto a mobile device. Mobile Barcoder fits into this process by integrating the generation process into Firefox...

To read the barcode you will require an application on your phone. Many phones now come with one already installed, but otherwise you can find many different options for almost any phone model.

Using the Firefox plug-in could you make a bar code of your website, use it in print somewhere and use this Microsoft application to access the site by snapping a picture of the bar code? Is that how this system works?

 

[meegwell]

Using the Firefox plug-in could you make a bar code of your website, use it in print somewhere and use this Microsoft application to access the site by snapping a picture of the bar code? Is that how this system works?

Microsofts Tag is a competitor to QR and the other mobile code datamatrix. The benefit is it is less than half the size of the other codes, preserving advertising space. So, the mobile app that you get from gettag.mobi is the equivlent to the firefox plugin, but works for Tag rather than QR. My guess is one will eventually dominate. Not sure if it would be Microsoft's version or not....are they competitive and prone to pouncing markets?

 

[ecigs.net]

I see. Too bad that they are not the same system. Now, I'll have to decide which one to use. I hate investing time into a new system, just to see it replaced by a bigger competitor. Do you think Microsoft is going to be the one to become the standard for this technology?

In any case, this is extremely interesting way to mix both print media and digital media with cell phones technology. I love living in the future. (It is also nice to see dotMOBI get a break and have Microsoft promote this under MOBI.)

 

[meegwell]

I see. Too bad that they are not the same system. Now, I'll have to decide which one to use. I hate investing time into a new system, just to see it replaced by a bigger competitor. Do you think Microsoft is going to be the one to become the standard for this technology?

In any case, this is extremely interesting way to mix both print media and digital media with cell phones technology. I love living in the future. (It is also nice to see dotMOBI get a break and have Microsoft promote this under MOBI.)

Who knows what format will win. It is a very useful technology considering it's simpleness. There would be very little burden/cost to entry on the consumer if several of them hung around. The three look different, so it would be a mtter of which icon on your phone you select to zap it. But yes, one would be nice. That size advantage of the Tag is nice considering how precious ad space is.

And yes, it is also, on another front, nice to see the Microsoft chose a .mobi domain for it's mobile application download site.


meegwell

 

[mo_dork]

I believe QR is the dominant format worldwide, outside the US that is. So I would say we should hop on board with that, not go it alone/cause confusion/create incompatibility issues.
I wonder what is the business model for the tag provider, the microsoft?
There are already lots of services offering mobile tags for free. So where does microsoft make a profit from?

Unless they try to make their tags dominant and thus make cash from the carriers licensing their proprietary reader software for pre-installation on handsets?

 

[ecigs.net]

Who is the dominant provider in the USA? We are going to be releasing a new product this year and I've been thinking about adding these codes to each package. The problem would be for us to add the code that fails to capture enough of the market to survive. I have been thinking that maybe we should add both. I have already seen the QR version showing up on billboards in Germany. So, I know that one is being used by companies in the real world.

What version would you use for a US based business?

 

[mo_dork]

QR is dominant in asia and growing in Europe. I would go with that standard. However, if your product packaging will be around for a few years, you might want to just go with a URL?

 

[ecigs.net]

We'll be keeping the packaging for at least 5 years. A URL to our main site is already going to be used, along with a toll free number. We have several MOBIs and a few TELs and I was thinking that for those domains, this system would be cutting edge. None of our competitors have it yet, so we would be the first in our niche. Considering how backwards most of them are, we'd be the first for a long time to come. We only sell within the United States at this time and because of packaging restrictions, there probably isn't enough space availalbe for any future European product releases to have either system.

That leads me back to the questions 1) You would go with the QR standard for the USA because it is strong in the rest of the world. Is that because you think QR will eventually beat the Microsoft version? 2) Why do you think that if our product is going to be around for a few years, that we should stick with a URL? Do you think that all of these codes for cell phones are going to be short-lived?

When I see this technology I have the feeling that it is obviously going to explode into massive use in the same way that way that sliding doors took over supermarkets. It feels right to me. It looks to me like these companies are thinking that the web and cell phones are destined to merge. That too feels right. (Of course, I thought Betavision had a future too, but I was wrong.)

Personally, the color scheme of QR (black and white) fits our product designs better than the multi-colors of Microsoft's version. That's important for us.

 

[mo_dork]

They don't even have to be black and white, I have seen colored ones too. I even think MS have a colored high capacity version.
I have no idea which one will win through. I hope its not proprietary like the MS one appears to be.

 

[meegwell]

They don't even have to be black and white, I have seen colored ones too. I even think MS have a colored high capacity version.
I have no idea which one will win through. I hope its not proprietary like the MS one appears to be.

I think that MS one started this thread

as far as "sticking around for a while" I think what was meant was with the QR system, and I assume microsoft and the other, you are not simply encoding the exact text to the url but rather to some site that redirects. That site and redirect site is managed by QR/MS/etc., and the user can then go and change the url given to a particular tag.

This may play into the business strategy question earlier. Here is an example:

company A has 10 ad campains, each with a different tag. The actual tag info is somehting like:

h.ttp://tagdatabase/user444_slot_832[/url] (and 833, 834, etc)

This URL redirect to the company-specificed URL, sayw.ww.product1.com (2,3)

...or all the same but 832 is in the subway, 833 is street billboards, etc...so the company gets market intelligence.

If a company needs to change the desination URL for one of the campains, they need not reprint the billboard or print ad, but rather just go into their account and change campaing's redirect URL.

viola!

 

[recluse99]

if you get the chance check out some Japanese barcode art...
http://images.google.com/images?q=b...&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title

the tags are nice but an easy to remember domain name is still the best...

 

[mo_dork]

company A has 10 ad campains, each with a different tag. The actual tag info is somehting like:

h.ttp://tagdatabase/user444_slot_832[/url] (and 833, 834, etc)
This URL redirect to the company-specificed URL, sayw.ww.product1.com (2,3)
...or all the same but 832 is in the subway, 833 is street billboards, etc...so the company gets market intelligence.

If a company needs to change the desination URL for one of the campains, they need not reprint the billboard or print ad, but rather just go into their account and change campaing's redirect URL.
viola!

That makes sense.
And once the world is saturate with tags we will get augmented reality? Or maybe with visual recognition/visual search the tags will become redundant. such as in these apps-

http://selectroclash.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/sekai-camera-augmented-reality-app-for-iphone

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=visual search&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#