Smartphones aren't tiny PCs, but that's how we use them in the West

Advertising - QR Cosed

The problem was that QR Codes were only used by the advertising industry to try to get us to scan their posters and bill boards; why they think anyone would want to scan a QR Code that was on an advertising bill board I'll never know. But the upshot is that we mentally linked QR Codes with all the bad stuff that comes out of the advertising world and we're never going to break that connection now.

I've used QR codes regularly enough in Ireland for loyalty cards on my mobile.

They work pretty well and I just "paid" for a coffee with one a bit earlier this morning.

One thing I'm noticing here is various attempts to use smartphone loyalty systems being hampered by laser scanner that can't read screen displayed barcodes or QR codes.

I've basically given up on Stocard because it rarely works or cause delays as they end up having to type it in manually.

Ultimately, business adopts technologies where they provide a clear advantage. In a world of ubiquitous contactless credit and debit cards, it's hard to convince people mobile payments are any great advantage.

Can a billion people be wrong?

As someone who has tried eating fish porridge for lunch I would say - yes, most definitely.

YoYo

the web site isn't great, but the canteen at work takes this. yoyo.com. this uses qr codes, and from observation is quick to recognise the code.

Bar & QR Codes suck for the blind.

A sigil we can't see to know is there, requiring the ability to aim a camera at accurately, visual confirmation that the scanning device has indeed scanned the code properly, on a device we can't see the screen of, all to do something we probably need a Sighted Minion for to complete anyway.

Bar codes & QR codes may be nice for you sighted folks, but they absolutely *suck arse* for those of us whom can't see them to interact with them in the first place.

*Sighs*

Forward or backward?

Using QR codes here in China is a good alternative for bankcards. Everyone has a phone, including the shopkeepers, so that has a high acceptance. It can also be used for transactions from person to person, by scanning their QR code, checking the amount and agreeing. In an economy that used to rely/ is relying on cash in large amounts, the acceptance of these payments systems is quite a breakthrough.

Considering that some years ago there was a report on finding 800 million RMB of graft in 100 bills stored in a villa cash here has a definite function. The fact that any payment system took off comes a bit as a surprise. But you can pay the taxi driver and restaurant with it, it can be easily incorporated with the winXP run system and everybody is happy for not having to run around with cash. The security around it certainly beats credit cards and transactions can be done with little hassle.

Add to this the fact that you can use the QR code to bypass the trouble of having to browse through a lot of options how to write a word in one of the 43.000 characters, having to remember nicely mnenonic web site addresses like SXQ143.cn or something similar and the success of the QR code here becomes a lot clearer. Easy access and ease of transaction are the keys here.

Clarification needed

So how does the Chinese system work then?

Does the till display a QR code that encodes "pay XXX yuan to account YYY", the phone picks that up and displays to the user "pay XXX yuan to account YYY - authorise?", the user selects YES and the phone tells the bank to send the money.

Or, does the phone display a QR code that encodes "my account is ZZZ", the till scans that, and tells the bank "transfer XXX yuan from account ZZZ to YYY". In that case, where's the customer authorisation other than the physical proffering of the QR code? How does the retailer know that the proffered QR code is actually the customer's QR code? A QR code is a QR code is a QR code, there's nothing physically preventing you displaying somebody else's QR code, and it's so much easier than stealing somebody's contactless debit card.

Canada

We definitely don't use them as much as in China, but QR codes are still visible on advertisements a lot here.

There is a QR system in use in Luxembourg

An overview of the app used and how it works from a consumer viewpoint are here:

https://www.bcee.lu/index.php/en/mobile/s-digicash

yes they are.

Smartphones are tiny PCs. They may be used differently, but they are exactly that. Why would you even say the weren't?

NFC is more advanced than QRC.

People in China are less concerned about security, so they can use lower grade tech that we got rid of for security reasons.

QR codes on phones for secure transactions are comonly used in the west...

...anyone who has used them at an airport check-in gate as an electronic boarding card will know that if a QR code is used by a trusted app/site, then read using a barcode scanner by someone able to close that identity loop and verify the information encoded in the QR, then it is trustworthy enough to get you on a plane.

That should be good enough for buying your groceries, too.

Starbucks

I don't know about the UK (or the iPhone) but my US, Android, Starbucks app generates a set of QR codes which are read by the same laser scanner that Starbucks uses to scan in items purchased. Why more chains couldn't adopt this is beyond me. Hell, I'd even be willing to install their app if they did.

It's because of the apps

The blame lies with Apple and Google for not making QR reader apps standard utilities for their OS. If you want to read a QR code with a new phone, you can't. I don't see why this would have been too much to ask but apparently it was.

Oh, and no, we don't *exclusively* use smartphones as tiny PCs in the West. I'm pretty damn certain the Pokemon Go phenomenon has proven that exact point. Aren't these articles fact-checked at all before publication?

Guess you don't you fly much

QR codes are everywhere you fly - not sure how you avoid them unless you blog in the desert from under a rock. I appreciate the lack of appeal to western eyes with our preference for block letters vs the Asian Kanji characters that QR codes could seem to resemble - sort of a 3D bar code.

I think your bigger point is that "Good is the enemy of Great". For your information that point was already made and your notion that we in the west are in a form of "Arrested Development" due to satisficing with our better but less advanced purchase models (active credit model vs cash to phone payments in some parts of Asia), I think you have missed two key points.

The first is that current credit models are pervasive, good enough and already facilitate transactions. What difference does it make if I swipe my credit card at the grocery store vs flash my phone?

The larger point is a cyber-security deficit. Phones are already barely secure - and linking your bank to the phone leaves your accounts vulnerable to attack if the phone is compromised. Here in the US, the federal security agencies want to open your phone to their attack, even as manufacturers like Apple and Google try to encrypt everything with increasing sophistication. I will not link my direct deposit account to a mobile device until I know Fed Flunkies do not have ready access. Remember a direct deposit account also enables direct withdrawals.

I have a considerable amount of evidence to suggest that in the USA and the EU, a lot of people did not use their PCs, or know how to use them.

The smartphone world has a couple of rules:

#1: follow the pack

#2: know very little

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Technology adoption seems to be about "critical mass". It doesn't surprise me that different nationalities take to different technologies. This is not because there is any reasonable premise behind it which is related to the particular technology, it's simply down to who achieves a critical mass of users for the majority to follow within that cultural environment.

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I would even say that with China compared to "the west", China sees itself as a place rushing into a future that will be completely different to today.

In the West, we are largely ruled by "conservatives".

What stops any one of a thousand technologies taking off? Conservative & luddite attitudes. With the huge majority being the users. User adoption is the challenge. Often affluent 'busy' people have no time to even *think* about changing their habits. Hence almost nobody bought handheld PCs, but bought telephones (and complained like stink that they weren't obvious enough to use, and that they didn't like computer stuff).

In fact, in the west the entire computer industry and automation industry has been treated as a form of very threatening and destabilising presence by most of industry, and there is typically very little optimism about "the latest new thing".

We have a problem of "backwards compatibility". Lots of people, when it comes to computers, are basically "backwards". What is interesting about that phenomenon is that the European dogma of the 18th century seems to prevail, that europeans are quite automatically the world leader in technological advancement.

That has not been the case in the past, and it should not be assumed to be the case in the present.

Certainly I would argue that China did not have the dark ages, and that a good portion of the technology and philosophy that powered the industrial revolution originated in China.