Font based digital link

[Tony]

I thought this might be a great place to get some feedback on our font based print to digital link we call a Shomi Link. 

The idea was to create a better way of adding digital links to printed material that was much better than something like a QR code. The solution we came up with was a special font I like to call a 8 bit binary font, that way it will fit into a line of text or any other confined space.

Thanks for any feedback.

[Ralf Herrmann]

I can certainly see the benefits of using a font for such a code. I guess the main problem is reaching wide-spread adoption. If my restaurant guests first need to download an app, while a conventional QR code will work by default on their phone, I might rather go with a QR code. 

Also, if I understand this correctly, you are routing all links through your own service, right? Being based in Europe, where privacy has a high priority, that would also rather count as a disadvantage. 

[Tony]

45 minutes ago, Ralf Herrmann said:

I can certainly see the benefits of using a font for such a code. I guess the main problem is reaching wide-spread adoption. If my restaurant guests first need to download an app, while a conventional QR code will work by default on their phone, I might rather go with a QR code. 

Also, if I understand this correctly, you are routing all links through your own service, right? Being based in Europe, where privacy has a high priority, that would also rather count as a disadvantage. 

Thanks for your feedback Ralf and yes you are right the initial adoption is going to be a challenge but the options to tackle that challenge are many more than when QR codes started being used. One thing we are looking at is teaming up with existing apps with large user bases to offer extra functionality or closed systems that could benefit from having one link which can display different content based on the end-user type.

The restaurant application is a good one as we can offer something you can't easily do with a QR code which is to offer a smart dynamic menu that can learn and actually make suggestions to the diner rather than just a list.

You are right that all the scans go through our service but the advantages of this method is that all the links are dynamic, we can offer more actionable data to our customers and we can offer more functionality than you could ever do with a QR code.  We also have the ability for our users to design their own content to link to.

[Riccardo Sartori]

1 hour ago, Tony said:

The idea was to create a better way of adding digital links to printed material that was much better than something like a QR code

Just to play Devil’s advocate: in which way this should be better than a short URL?

[Tony]

2 hours ago, Riccardo Sartori said:

Just to play Devil’s advocate: in which way this should be better than a short URL?

Sure. Well to start with scanning a link like a QR code or our Shomi Link is a better end-user experience than having to open your browser and type in a URL. The other things are functionality and data collection. With using a short URL you are limited to the functionality of a web browser and these days most of our interactions on a mobile device are through an app. To really harness the added functionality of modern apps a URL doesn't work.

The other thing is data gathering. Data is the new digital currency and the more valuable data you can gather the more tailored content you can offer and the more valuable you product is.