Coffee. Tech. Explosion.

When I received the magazine, four things popped out at me as failures.

1. The tag on the cover of the magazine was not QR. It was not a Jagtag. It was a different, proprietary tag called a “Mobi” tag — by Microsoft. As a consumer, how am I supposed to keep track of all of these tags? There needs to be standardization (a different topic on its own).

2. The tag was on the cover of the magazine, but it did not have a call to action. Consumers need to: (1) Immediately recognize what a Mobi tag is, and (2) Understand what to do with it once they see it. 

3. The tag on the back cover of the magazine had the call to action directing the consumer to point their web-enabled phone to a WAP site in order to download the Mobi tag reader app. Really? Just scanning the app is such a clunky experience in itself. Why would they want to go through the trouble to download the app to scan the tag?

4. When I proceeded to download the Mobi Tag reader application, I was told the application exceeded the 20MB file download limitation over 3G and had to switch to WiFi. What if I wasn’t in a WiFi-ready area? And if I was, there’s no guarantee WiFi would be free or I had the WEP key.

Also, let’s not assume everyone has an unlimited data plan. Data plans are precious. For the amount of time and battery suck in downloading a <20MB application, the application or offer better NOT suck. In this case, an exclusive video of Tyson is not compelling enough for this particular user (me).

Couldn’t the screen-printed Coke Bottle icon on the back of this Mexican Coke be the barcode instead of the UPC? http://flic.kr/p/9nei8m