There’s an informative series of articles over at Shawn Smith’s blog on NewMediaBytes.com about Quick Response (QR) codes. For the unfamiliar, QR codes are 2-dimensional barcodes that contain information about a product or service, similar to (but better than) the barcodes you are used to seeing on everyday products.

QR codes are already popular in Asia, where consumers snap photos of them with their cell phones in newspapers, billboards, and other un-wired media. Special software takes the image and converts it to data such as a URL that can be accessed on the phone’s browser or downloaded to a computer. It remains to be seen how popular these items will become outside of the Asian market, but Shawn’s series of posts paint a very rosy picture of QR codes’ future in the U.S.

I am sure that QR codes will play a role in the mobile web of the future because the technology is too powerful to ignore. However, I don’t think the U.S. market is ready for them just yet and adoption rates will be slowed by the expense and low penetration of broadband-enabled phones with data plans. Case in point, a ZDNet article about an initial trial at Case Western University shows that students are slow to adopt the new technology for a few primary reasons:

• Cell phone carriers charge for data usage. The price for each transaction varies by carrier and by whether the phone owner has an unlimited data plan or pays by the megabyte.
• The software does not come pre-loaded on cell phones.
• There is no standard technology in the U.S. that spans multiple wireless carriers, handset manufacturers, and software developers.
• QR codes are currently only deployed in a few locations around campus: bus shelters, campus newspapers, and a few promotional handouts.

In my opinion, the market will mature when consumers get free (or ad-supported) access to these programs and the wireless industry implements and promotes a common set of standards. The technology has to be built in, work on any device and with any carrier, and should be as idiot-proof as taking a picture with the phone’s camera.

This Nielsen study provides some very encouraging mobile web advertising statistics. Surprisingly, 23% (58 million) of mobile web users recall being exposed to ads on their phones within the past 30 days. Of the ad-aware audience, 51% said they took some action and responded to the ad. The non-voice ad units measured include: banner ads on mobile web pages, SMS text-message advertising, sponsored applications, video advertising and other types of advertising that reach consumers while using data applications on their mobile phones.

These numbers seem to indicate a very strong response rate for mobile ads. However, much more research needs to be done. Some of the immediate questions in my mind are:

• Are the results skewed by early adopters that may not be representative of larger demographic groups?
• Will the response rates slow down as the novelty of mobile ads wears off and the medium becomes more cluttered?
• Does response rate vary based on ad unit, targeting methods or relevance to the content?
• How did users find the ad-supported content? Did the referral source impact ad response rates?

The most popular ad response was sending a text message to the advertiser to receive content or new apps (26%). 9% of respondents used click-to-call to connect with advertisers.

Mobile users are a ripe audience for marketers but we must be careful not to overextend our boundaries. Less than 1/3 of mobile internet users are willing to view ads if it lowers their monthly data plan bills, and only 23% expect to see more mobile ads in the future. Marketers should recognize that consumers regard mobile devices as extremely personal and private devices, as reflected by the low percentage (10%) of data users that think advertising on their mobile devices is acceptable. Just as users have grown accustomed to ads on TV, radio and the internet, consumers will eventually grow used to seeing ads on the mobile web.

Until then, my best advice is to create something of value to offer mobile web users. Don’t try to force-fit your traditional marketing plans into a medium that was made for interactivity.

Hat tip to Marketing Pilgrim. Thanks Jordan!