Microsoft has their own tagging service called Microsoft Tag. At first glance, it looks just like any other QR code reader/creator. But on this page, it seems as if it has much greater “out-of-focus” scanning. This has been my problem thus far with QR codes. No two camera phones are alike, and each seems to take photos at different qualities. I would end up with a blurry, grainy photo that wouldn’t scan. This may solve that.

A couple potential issues:

1. Looks like it has to be in color. What infrastructure changes would have to be made, say for a retailer, to implement something like this? Most retailers are using thermal-type printers to print price tags, etc. and they are usually in black and white. Not sure about this though – just something to consider.
2. Is this another DVD+R vs DVD-R, HD-DVD vs. BluRay war? Are all these cool little codes interchangeable? If I go through the exercise of getting these things on all my price tags, and install readers, etc. – is it going to last?

Well, maybe sometime today I’ll get one of my Non-iPhone-Having friends download and try this software.