QR Codes and Smartphones

Alright, so the world runs on dunkin’ and now apparently also runs on smartphones! Who would have thought that the once beloved ‘Zack Morris’ cell phone would now develop into dual and quad core phones that run faster than my damn computer at home! Cell phones are becoming like a dinner table setting when people go out, make sure you have a fork, knife, spoon and…smartphone? Everywhere you go it’s twitter this, twitter that, facebook tag here and there, the world is literally addicted to their cell phones (and social media, but we won’t get into that!). There was a time where Friday nights were family game nights, now with cell phones and smartphones, its so much easier for kids to make plans, just send a mass text to their friends and see who wants to go out and where. Family values, in my opinion, are being changed at rapid speeds from where they were ten years ago and ten years ago they were very different than they were twenty years ago. Life is changing, technology is changing. The world is changing! Sometimes change is good, but it can also be bad. For example, in my restaurant, I used to carry just regular soda and water. Now I have to carry SOBE, vitamin water, iced tea, Monster energy drinks and all this ‘crap’ in my opinion, because if I didn’t, kid’s wouldn’t come to my pizzeria for lunch during the school year. You know how much business they bring in for me? I would have to close up shop if I didn’t cater to them! Not because they just come in for lunch, but then they come in for dinner with their parents and family, and let’s face it, what parent wants to sit there and argue with their child about where to go for dinner, usually the parent just gives in. So, if I didn’t carry those other products for them, they wouldn’t come in for lunch, or dinner and then where does that leave me. Dead on a Friday night. Now, that may be a bit exaggerated ;), however, it is true on a small scale and does affect my business which is my point that everything is changing and you either have to keep up or get out of the game!

So, now that I am done rambling about the youth of America, let’s get back on topic. :-) As quoted by Rachel King of CNET news:

Here are the highlights of the majority numbers from different demographics in the survey:

14 million equates to 6.2 percent of the total U.S. mobile audience
60.5 percent of that audience was male
53.4 percent of that audience were between the ages of 18 and 34
36.1 percent of that audience has a household income of $100,000 and above

So what does that tell us? Well, I know that it tells me that QR codes are not being utilized as much as they should be. Also, the last statistic proves my point above that unless you are in the middle or upper class, you probably don’t own a smartphone or if you do, you are probably the exception and not the norm.