Michael Fitzpatrick
The Guardian, Thursday 27 September 2007
Japanese commuters while away the journey by watching TV on their mobiles. Photograph: David Sacks/Getty
The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Tuesday October 9 2007
Bouygues Telecom, rather than Telecom France, has had success with mobile internet services. The QR bar codes that can be read by mobile phones are Quick Response, rather than Quick Read, codes. These did not make their debut in the UK last month. Kerrang! magazine used them in November 2006. The second of these three errors has been corrected.
Yasuko San is aiming her mobile at a small, square tattoo on paper, clicking a little and peering happily at the result. Her prize? The latest novel written for the mobile, entitled "Teddy". Such serialised novels for mobiles are just the latest phone application that has caught the Japanese imagination, but - apart from neighbouring South Korea - few others.
Those printed square icons, however, made their debut in the UK earlier this month (to promote the DVD of the film 28 Weeks Later). Known as QR (quick response) codes, they have aided Japan's mobile revolution by making it easy to access a web page via mobile. Users can be directed to sites by snapping the codes printed in magazines, posters and even on biscuits.
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