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A Google innovation bound to be popular…

Written by: suzanne rodriguez 620 views

Have you ever walked down a city street, encountered an unknown but interesting-looking restaurant, and wondered if you should give it a try? Of course you have—dozens, maybe even hundreds of times. If you’re like most people, you’ll occasionally take a chance, but most of the time you’ll probably continue strolling down the street to an eatery you know and trust.

But now, thanks to Mountain View-based Google, the odds that you will take a chance on an unknown restaurant or other business will probably increase. A lot.

Over the next few weeks, Google will be sending out 100,000 decals to selected US restaurants and other businesses to place on street-facing windows. These decals contain the Google Maps logo and a unique Quick Reference (QR) code that can be scanned by smart phone cameras and display Google listings for that business on the phone screen. Listings can include user reviews, star ratings, hours of operation, contact info, prices, web links, discount coupons, and more. Google expects the system to work well with the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android, but says it should work with many other smart phones as well. It’s easy to imagine that, in quick order, all mobile phones will  have this capability because most consumers will demand it.

As Google explained in a blogpost, “This launch is part of our overall effort—online and offline—to provide you with the best local business results whenever you’re trying to figure out where to go, whether it’s a trendy Cuban restaurant in Philly, a comics shop in LA or a hip hotel in NYC.” It’s also an amazingly effective new vehicle for Google ads.

The first 100,000 businesses chosen by Google are designated “Favorite Places.” They were selected on the basis of being the most “sought out and researched on Google.com” and Google Maps. Google will be sending out many more decals in the future to businesses that meet its criteria. To be identified as a “Favorite Place,” a business must unlock its local business listing at Google’s business center. They can improve their odds of getting a decal by entering accurate information about their business and adding photos, videos, menus, coupons, etc.

QR codes, which first appeared on the scene in 1994, are similar to barcodes, with a pixilated rectangular image rather than the barcode’s stripes (see the image above). QR codes have been widely used in Asia for some times, and in places such as Japan the QR code readers are built into smart phones. In Japan QR codes appear on items such as food packaging, where they provide valuable information about calories, ingredients, and even recipes. They also appear in the windows of many types of businesses. For example, in restaurants, bus stops, or real estate agents’ windows, where they offer such information as menus, bus timetables, and floor plans of apartments for rent.

In the USA, privacy concerns will make the info retrieval process a bit slower. Users will need to download a code reader designed for their specific phone (the first 40,000 downloads for the iPhone QuickMark app are free). Once it’s installed, you can’t just point the phone at a decal and get a listing as you would in Japan. Instead, you’ll undergo an approximately 45-second  permission process before the listing appears. But when you’re standing on the sidewalk, wondering if you’ll get a good meal inside a restaurant that’s grabbed your attention, a few seconds’ wait is a small price to pay.

Here’s an official Google video that shows the process in action:  We’re a Favorite Place on Google

© Suzanne Rodriguez

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