Hi, this is Frank Romano for WhatTheyThink.com.  Welcome to another episode of whatever this is…

Well, two opposing news items that were interesting to me, Business Cards Go Paperless, or Almost.  Business Cards Go Paperless, or Almost.  And what they are saying is that business cards could be replaced by QR codes.  You have seen these, you see them on billboards, you see them at airports, you see them everywhere, you see them in print, you have scanned them with your camera and it goes to a website and you decide to do something.  And the point is that because of these, business cards may not have to have as much information on them, maybe they just have that code.  Then when you give your card to someone, they scan it, or maybe you only need one card, and they scan it, and it’s already in their computer, they don’t have to have a paper card as such.

Well, almost the same day, another item came out and it said, “Google kills those little square codes you scan with your phone Goog.”  That’s the nature of the article.  And what it says is that with new cell phones and new technology, QR codes will not exist in the future.  And they’re saying that Near Field Communication (NFC)…

Will be equipped in almost all cell phones, Smart Phones, dumb phones and that you will just put it near whatever the device is or near a reader or whatever and it will already capture your information.  And instead of having that giant QR Code in the sky, you just point your camera at it and then some kind of a signal that comes out that reads the information on your phone.  And they’re going to put it in all their phones and their devices as time goes on, and that therefore, you will not need the QR Code. 

I think these things are ugly to begin with, and of course, printers think that they are their salvation, that somehow they’re going to print more stuff because there’ll be QR Codes on, they’ll be cross media, you can use electronic devices… I’m not sure about that.  I think Near Field Communications is going to come in very quickly and a large part of the market that was scanning QR Codes is probably going to go with NFC. 

On the business card side, I don’t ever see the elimination of the business card, although it’s entirely possible.  I even happen on my iPhone that you just touch it against someone else’s iPhone and it can transfer information in some way… 

That may be the way we do it.  We go to shows and we just click our cameras or click or cell phones and that’s the end of it. Or, and I think this could be the real future as we go on, I think, you know, we could all have a QR Code on our foreheads.  And I got a lot of forehead here.  So you can just walk around and people just scan you anytime they want.   

That’s about as Near Field as you’re gonna get… and that’s my opinion!  

Take care.