Microsoft Tag was introduced at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. One year later, coinciding with the first anniversary of Microsoft Tag, Softpedia is glad to offer you an insight into the future of mobile tagging.
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself and your role with Microsoft.
My name is Aaron Getz and I’m the Product Unit Manager for Microsoft Tag.
2. First things first, what’s Microsoft Tag? Please talk a little bit about the technology behind the project.
Microsoft Tag allows for almost anything in the real world to be quickly linked to an interactive experience on your mobile phone. A Tag is a small barcode, optimized for reading with a cell phone, that you can print, stick, or display just about anywhere. When you scan it with your camera phone, it automatically opens a webpage, dials a phone number, or takes some other action on the phone. This allows people to easily access things like video clips, Web sites, contact information and special offers for items they see in the real world. For example, if you include a Tag on your business card, a new acquaintance can snap a picture of the Tag from their camera phone and automatically upload your contact information to their mobile phone.
Microsoft Tag is based on a new type of barcode, developed by Microsoft Research, which was designed to be able to be read from any Internet connected camera phone. You just need the free Tag Reader application, which is available from gettag.mobi for every major phone platform.
