I led the Qode unit and PaperClick BD as EVP in 2000 - 2001 and was VP of BD in 2005 - 2007; Pearson/PrenticeHall, Cellufun, some keyword sales(all revenue producing) and a number of the trials that have been discussed on this board (including CaseWestern and Mexico)were accomplished or started under my leadership. Licensing and other discussions with Qualcomm, NextCode, Cingular (AT&T), Sprint, Verizon, Alltel were also WIP at the time. I was well entrenched with a major global consumer products company on a global basis (they have 2 million independant sales reps in over 100 countries; imagine each one with a barcode reader on their phone) for both B2B (company-to-rep) and consumer-facing applications. Pearson/Prentice Hall US, EU, Australia, and Singapore were actively pursuing integrating 2D codes for both sales force support and student/educator engagement.
You would not believe the number of active discussions we were having. Remember when Sony released the DavinciCode DVD in November 2006? We were poised to be involved with that release. I could go on and on ...
The issues were coverage for the phones (how many people can use it or what would the frustration level be for those that can not; reach) and financial stbility of the company. No company or ad agency wanted to invest the time/expense in developing and launching 2D code-driven campaigns/products if the company powering the code was not going to be around when it launched and for a period of time after it launched. NEOM's balance sheet (the only visible data point) has not provided that reassurance/comfort level to the decisionmakers, thus no commitment to real campaigns. Trials and marketing alliances are much less risky, that is why you see those types of engagements.
