One of the more interesting things I’ve seen from Microsoft recently is the Microsoft Tag technology – which they claim will “Connect Real Life and the Digital World”.  Its actually a pretty cool type of ‘bar code’ that can be easily read by your mobile phone – from a computer display, hard copy, photo, or any other medium-resolution display device.  Once you’ve downloaded the (free) Tag Reader application to your mobile device – simply point the phone’s camera at the tag and you’ll have instant access to the website, text file, or vCard (contact information) associated with the tag.

While the technology is quite young and its impossible to predict how ubiquitous these tags will become …. the concept is interesting and the cost is nearly nothing to implement

.  I’ve recently implemented a tag for a client which we hope will drive traffic to a new mobile portal for their organization’s site.   There isn’t enough data yet to know if its working – but we’ll keep a close eye on the stats to see if this is something to pursue further.

You can download the Microsoft Tag Reader application by browsing to http://gettag.mobi on your mobile phone browser.   Its available for most ‘smart’ phones for free.   Once you’ve downloaded and installed the app – give our Pacific Crest Mobile tag a try.  I’ll be interested in your feedback.