ShareSquare

We’re Shutting Down ShareSquare to Wait for NFC (Update: April Fools!)

It’s only been one short week since we publicly launched ShareSquare to critical acclaim from the likes of the New York Times, but we’re deciding to call it quits for now.

In the last few days there’s been a lot of buzz asking whether this new technology, NFC, is going to kill QR codes.  The answer is unequivocally, and immediately, yes.

Sure, QR codes in the U.S. are getting big at the moment, and trending toward being downright mainstream this summer, but it’s clear that NFC is gonna be Bieber-Gaga-Palin huge in like 5 years.  Google’s doing it soon and Apple is thinking about it.  That’s good enough for us.

What’s NFC?  It’s short-range wireless data exchange between your phone and something else that has an NFC chip in it.  So, for example, just as soon as the corner pizza shop does their once-a-decade POS system upgrade, you’ll be able to pay for your pie just by swiping your mobile device.  No more ultra-heavy American Express Black Cards weighing you down!

“But!” you might say, “the mobile web app you build with ShareSquare, it doesn’t matter how a real-world visitor gets there, can’t you just do QR codes now and offer NFC (or whatever else) once it hits critical mass?”

Maybe, but that’s not what we’re about.  ShareSquare has always been about the future, and NFC is the future, man.  QR codes are now the present, and frankly, we’re just not interested anymore.

“But!” you may say again, “even in Japan QR and NFC coexist in different applications, like, you might walk down the street and scan a QR code off a Coca-Cola poster, play a little game, and win a free Coke. You then take your phone to the nearest vending machine, wave it over the NFC terminal, and redeem your Coke.”

Not convinced.  They have square watermelons over there, and other stuff we simply prefer not to understand.

Thanks to all the early adopters that have tried out ShareSquare, especially those who helped us blow up SXSW and those already running nationwide campaigns.  All your accounts are now in a state of suspended animation.  Sit tight and wait with us until NFC-capable handsets are as common as QR-capable handsets now, and the marginal cost of installing an NFC chip into a poster or sticker is the same as integrating a QR code (zero).  Then we’ll probably do this all over again.

Email us for more info at: YeahItsAprilFoolsButTheRealJokeIsThinkingAnyTechnologyFacing
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