I did a quick presentation at AR Summit in London this week. The presentation, available here discussed Augmented Reality and Print Media.

One question from audiences was about QR in Japan, why QR is so popular in Japan but not AR.

I think there are some confusion on what AR is about. QR and AR looks similar, just one letter different but those two are very different things.

QR is an advanced barcode. In Japanese, it is actually known as ‘3 dimensional bar code’. QR is barcode and is short text, like the tinyurl above. It simply skips entry of address in the browser – nothing more, nothing less. I believe QR can be very useful in the right application, in conjunction with mobile optimised web sites – for example in a product brochure situation. QR codes became popular in Japan when brands started creating these dedicated sites for mobile.

AR is a user interface technology, one form of virtual reality. It does not have to be on a printed image, it can be used on location (GPS), via gyro, based on time, or simply touch interaction.

AR is not about how cool the 3G graphic looks like, it’s about adding value to the app/campaign/objective. Take a look at our case studies and see how we achieve this.