Google announced today that said it has sent window stickers with bar codes to more than 100,000 local businesses in the U.S. that are popular search terms on Google’s home page and Google Maps. Consumers will be able to receive information about these “Favorite Places on Google” by taking a photo of the bar code in the store windows with their mobile phones. In addition to reviews of the business, in some instances the information could include coupons and special offers.
Favorite Places program launched by Google
The bar codes on each store’s window decal can be scanned with an iPhone or Blackberry and Android phones using a special reader application. Google recommends that users of Android phones download the free Barcode Scanner App, while iPhone users will need QuickMark app. Normally QuickMark costs $1.99, but starting today, Google and Apple are offering the application free for the first 40,000 people to download. The bar codes can be read by other mobile devices as well. To find out what application to use for your phone, Google the model of your phone along with “QR reader.” Some of the other applications that Google suggests include beetagg, neoreader, and Barcode Scanner.
Google intends to roll out the program to additional qualifying businesses over time. I think this will be huge for traveling, so I just downloaded and installed my copy. If you want yours, hurry. 40,000 freebies will go quickly.
After years of working 70 hours a week at jobs I detested, I felt like the proverbial "hole in the donut" - solid on the outside, but empty on the inside. Searching for meaning in my life, I abandoned my successful but unsatisfying career and set out on a six-month solo backpacking trip around the world to pursue my true passions of travel, writing, and photography. 
December 8th, 2009 - 4:43 am
Interesting idea – I’m hoping that Santa will bring me an I-phone, but suspect that this app won’t be the first thing I do with it – maybe you early adopters will be more keen
December 10th, 2009 - 10:20 am
The Quickmark scanner thing’s a pretty cool idea, but I just wish the “barcode” (actually it’s a QR code) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code didn’t have to be so damn big.
Thanks for sharing the news!
December 12th, 2009 - 6:06 am
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December 25th, 2009 - 4:22 pm
My original comment said I got one of these “Google Favorite Place,” things in the mail, Googled it, this article popped up, read it, downloaded the QuickMark app to my iPhone. Took a picture, decoded the quickcode, went to my listing on Google local, and still don’t have a clue as to what the purpose of this thing is. Thanks for writing this.
Jake