MSN debuts marketing strategy for coming months

There is one fun widget Windows Live currently has in Beta. Extremely popular in Japan, QR codes allow a user to scan a 2-dimensional barcode picture which contains a large amount of encoded text. This is useful because it means a small picture on a business card can be photographed by a mobile or handheld device which is then converted into a ready-made, ready-formatted contact that can be saved with no manual data input. This potentially offers a hugely valuable time-saving device.
The new beta product offers the facility to convert either plain text or pre-made business card text into the QR code creator, which can then be used by mobile devices in the following fashion. There is wide scope for such codes, especially in the usage of novel promotions and marketing - research is already underway to think up a fun marketing campaign that people can view by scanning it into their phones (such as scavenger hunts and guerrilla marketing on the side of bus-stops, etc).