By now, nearly everyone who sees a QR code knows what it is and what to do with it, and if recognition were the same thing as adoption, the success of QR codes would be a fait accompli. But, findings from the mobile marketplace tell a different story.

Some surveys, like this one from ScanLife, document dramatic year-over-year increases in the frequency of mobile barcode scanning by consumers. Others, though, note that overall penetration is less impressive.

comScore, for example, says that mobile phone users in the U.S. who scanned a QR code during a recent survey period represented only a little more than 6% of the total mobile audience. Similarly, according to Advertising Age, Forrester Research found that only 5% of Americans who own mobile phones actually used 2D barcodes (a.k.a. QR codes).