Google's Newspaper Ads: Big Hopes For Small Barcodes

Google's efforts to get into the newspaper ad business have yet to yield much. One tool it hopes will eventually change that: Small, square barcodes, like the one at the right, at the bottom of print ads. When a person scans the barcode with a compatible camera phone, it takes their phone's browser to a mobile Web address encrypted in the graphic.What's the point? This has three benefits: First, it saves the reader the trouble of typing in a Web address into their phone -- an annoying process for the majority of wireless subscribers that don't have phones with QWERTY keypads. Second, it can take the reader to a very specific page, based on an individual ad -- like a coupon or a map to the advertiser's store. And third, it ties into Google's analytics tools, so advertisers can get a very specific sense of which ads work and which don't, when people are viewing them, where they're standing (GPS), etc. These barcodes are big in Japan.
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/01/googles-newspaper-ads-big-hopes-for-small-barcodes-goog.html