QR codes were built to link information to a specifice URL (webpage). NeoMedia uses QR codes and a host of others. But it is not the barcode that NeoMedia claims art. It is about the process of using a "Handheld" device the one we talk about is a cellphone (but it can also be magnetic swipe, voice activated, etc.,) scans the barcode, points to a site and then has that site redirect the browser to another site. Pretty simple.
Cell phone operators don't like having their bandwidth used without paying them. The direct model doesn't pay the operators.
The operators when given a choice will opt to encourage use of the indirect model when it puts money in their coffers. That's the probem with ShopSavvy. Remember the cell phone operators have a business and they can control what is used on their network. It's called business.
They do not have to provide Google with access to their users if they choose to shut them out. Google provides a service and if that service is offered free to the masses that is one thing. Operators regularly block IP addresses to prevent spyware and other things appearing.
Apple did the opposite. It shut out service providers by contractign with just AT&T. Apple shut them out. What if the service providers wanted to start their own music store? They could shut out iTunes.
So if Google offers a "free" service to end users how does Google make money on it? They make it on the advertising, sales that occur with it. Nothing is free.
So if Verizon Wireless, Cingular, AT&T are offered a service which pays them up front do you think they might not like the "free" service that is being offered by Google?
The indirect system is "free" to the endusers also. The capitalist system will decide which is better. They both have their benefits.
NeoMedia's system is not a big proprietary system. NeoMedia's model is about licensing software, hardware and the IP they own. If you have your own system you can use it but you must pay for the right to use NeoMedia's IP.
You are in business school. I hope you will learn that nothing is free. Free is relative to the individual. Just like buy TWO get the THIRD one FREE. I see that as a 33 percent discount on something most people would have not bought without the word FREE.
AI
