The Aztec 2D bar code has been making waves lately, and we have had quite a few requests and sales to various parts of the world for our decoder.  Invented by HHP (Welch-Allyn) many years ago, Aztec is a public domain symbology.

Historically, Aztec is not as popular as Data Matrix (US/EMEA Markets), nor QR Code (Asia/Oceania Markets), but a recent surge in requests have come from Eastern European nations.  Ranking these three 2D symbologies, QR seems to be the best suited for most applications (especially cell phone) with its 3 square bulls-eye finders and embedded finders in larger QRs.  Aztec has a nice square bulls-eye finder smack in the middle of the code making it easy to identify. 

Is there a good reason for the surge in Aztec's usage in applications?   It appears that Russia is using it in Postal applications, and it has some usage in Document Imaging applications as well.  I would like to hear from you on other applications, or your thoughts on "why" there is a perceived surge.  We'll certainly keep tabs on other applications as we learn more from our customers,but for the most part, our customer's tend to be tight-lipped on how and where our software is used.  Why are they tight-lipped?  General feedback is that they feel they have their hands on the best decoder in the market, and they don't want their competition to know their secret.  This keeps us from expanding our partner list, as most want to remain anonymous.

I read this article on 6/22/07 regarding the number of camera phones will exceed 1 Billion in 2007. A staggering number, and 1/3 of the population (roughly 2 billion) by 2011, truely amazing, and a dream come true for potential applications for bar codes on both the consumer side and enterpise side. Omniplanar is frequently asked for our SwiftDecoder algorithms to run on cell phones.  Our code is written entirely in C, which makes porting to WinCE, WinMobile and some other operating systems found on phones easier.  However, many phones are running J2ME or Symbian. 

We have started the process of converting our algorithms to Java (J2SE) for the Document Imaging market, and are proud to say that we have successfully converted a few of the 2D symbologies, with more to come, and the remainder of the symbologies to follow, with the exception of postal codes. 

We have found that the J2SE is slower than the C algorithms, and the J2ME algorithms are then even slower.  With an already lightning fast C decoder, the penalty is not too great to switch, but combine J2ME with a slow microprocessor, and an average consumer may struggle to read some bar codes.

Got Camera Phone?  I personally do not, as I rely heavily on my camera-less Blackberry, but the time has come to upgrade.

I have been asked many times in the past month or for my opinion on the launch of Microsoft's multicolored bar code. OK...Here is my Two Cents...

The short version....Don't think it will make it in prime time.  Digital Watermarking is better. If you want to know why, read the long version below.

The long version. 

Microsoft should have done a better job in researching the bar code market prior to launching the code.  Sure there are web cams, and camera phones out there that have color sensors, but you will ulimately get into a situation where resolution of these cameras, untrained consumers trying to scan the code, and poor quality of the image sensor, and finally poor illumination that will make this bar code an instant problem child in the market. 

Combine this with the fact that brand managers already are unhappy with the real estate that must be taken up by the old fashioned black/white UPC code.  Now throw in a colorful code that will clash with most (if not all) color schemes found on products.  I notice that Microsoft wisely chose a DVD with the same color scheme as their bar code, thus creating an illusion that it won't stand out.  Can't wait to see it on the next DVD that is already starved on real estate.  Imagine a classic Godfather DVD with black and brown color scheme, and right there in the middle is a bright Red/LimeGreen/Blue bar code.  Good luck with the blending of those colors Mr. Brand Manager.

I believe a better technology is the Digital Watermark from Digimarc. It is imperceptible to humans, blends in with the background, and can be scanned by the same technology - web cams, cell phone cams, and --- oh yes, existing technology from the bar code scanner manufacturers, Area Imagers. 

Face it folks, the boring Black/White bar codes are hear to stay....and Color bar codes are a thing of the....I can't say future, or past....hmmm....Color bar codes are simply a novelty.

After coming out of a seminar on pricing, and as I pondered why we don't have 100% market share in bar code decoding software, I looked back on some of the recent opportunities that we did not win.  In each case, our premium price had something to do with it, and I am frequently hit with the comment, "I am just trying to scan bar codes, and this other decoder meets my needs".  Lets talk about "needs" for a moment.  When selecting a bar code decoder "needs" goes beyond reading a few sample images.  Do your "needs" include: no downtime? no crashes? high read rate, not just on test  bar codes, but real-world poor images? no misreads? anything else? 

Once our customers are up and running, we rarely hear from them.  Is this a good thing? Well, a salesperson may get paranoid that they may be looking at another product, but in reality, Omniplanar's products run all-day, everyday without fail and with a significantly higher read rate than anything else on the market. Our customers are pleased with the choice they made and understand that the extra effort that we put into our products to make them reliable and robust, goes a long way in reducing their technical support needs.

I recently spoke with a friend that runs a very small software company, and he deals with 8-10 technical support calls a day, and he needs to hire a support person to handle some of the extra load expected from the growth.  At Omniplanar, we do not have a dedicated technical support person. Why? We don't need it.  And the added benefit to this, is that when you do call, you speak to the engineer(s) that wrote the code. And they are very willing to help you and look forward to seeing the images that you have captured.

When Omniplanar's parent company, Metrologic, purchased Omniplanar from some really smart guys from Princeton, NJ in September of 2004 and gave me the opportunity to run the company, I was ecstatic.  Some might consider inheriting a company with a product that was and still is recognized as being the BEST IN THE WORLD (SwiftDecoder) might be a dream come true, that you can sit back - rest on your laurels and watch the cash roll in. 

It is true that having a great product makes for easy competitive analysis and provides added confidence when talking to perspective clients.  However, it also creates a forum for your competitors, co-workers and others to try to find a crack in your armor, looking for any sign of weakness that can take away your greatness. So how does one handle this?  Quite simply, bring it on! 

At Omniplanar we drive for EXTREME COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.  Our engineers do not look to simply read more bar codes than our competitors, but we look to do it faster, more reliably, more accurately and with the thought that our product MUST make our customer's product outperform any other on the market (ie those that choose not to buy our software).  If the nay-sayers find images with bar codes that we do not read, bring it on, our staff of experts will let you know the whats, whys and hows about the image and if we truly did have a crack in the armor, I can guarantee that it won't last and, by the way, THANK YOU, our software is even better!