Everyone Learned QR Codes - What Will You Build?

QR Codes - those little square barcodes you can scan with your smartphone camera - have been around as long as the smartphone. Over a decade. But nobody knew how to use them.

Then COVID-19. Every restaurant started using QR codes instead of a paper menu. Touchless payment systems started using QR codes. Over the last year, almost everyone learned how to do this simple action - - put your smartphone in Camera mode, point it at a QR code, and follow the link.

The QR code, by itself, was NOT the big innovation. When a couple of billion people around the world know how to USE the QR codes - -that is when the innovation starts.

At the restaurant Balabu, there's a QR Code at the bottom of the bill. You can scan it and pay. That replaces the expensive Ziosk touchscreen and credit-card reader you see at AppleBee's.

At ContactLink, we're replacing phone numbers and email addresses with a QR Code. Why should I type in your email address (and make a typo) when I could just scan a link and get it right, instantly?

What new thing will you build, now that everyone knows how to use QR codes?