Today, QR codes are everywhere, thanks to the proliferation of smartphones in every segment of society. To make financial transactions, check menus, or access an event, the only thing we all have to do is scan those black and white pixel squares – voila! We’re done! Sure, QR codes make our daily lives easy and convenient.
Although this technology looks simple, it has a rich history intertwined with development phases, challenges, and refinements. Today, we take you on a journey to uncover the history of QR codes – a complete chapter on how QR codes were invented and the subsequent transformations that have shaped them today.
Chapter 1: When was the QR code invented?
The history of the QR code began in the early 1990s, when it was invented in 1994 by Masahiro Hara, a Japanese engineer teacher database at Denso Wave. At that time, the Japanese automotive industry, engaged in mass production, brought to the forefront a new challenge - tracking manufactured items.
In search of a modern solution to this problem, QR code technology was invented and is used to label automotive parts. This technology has helped automotive companies track and store automotive parts in an organized and systematic manner.
Chapter 2: Problems with old-fashioned barcodes
In the 1960s, barcodes or matrix codes were successfully used in rail transport, with British Railways and the Association of American Railroads being prime examples of how the new technology was adopted. With increasing innovation in the following years, such as self-supporting barcodes and scanners, several brands implemented the technology in supermarkets. By the early 2000s, barcodes were widely adopted at supermarket checkouts around the world.
One of the main limitations of barcodes was that they could only hold a small amount of information. Even 2D barcodes, while better than linear barcodes, could not encode much more data and could only hold limited alphanumeric characters.
In addition to their limited capacity for information, barcodes also have several other limitations, such as slow reading speed and expensive scanning equipment. For example, barcodes could only hold about 20 characters and could not hold special or complex characters such as Kanji.