Holiday figures point to this season being one of the biggest for mobile to date.

New data from NeoMedia supports this trend by revealing a huge rise in QR Code scanning during the Black Friday shopping frenzy.

Use of NeoMedia's NeoReader barcode scanning app jumped more than 240% on Black Friday compared to last year, according to a recent press release from the firm. 2D were the most popular barcodes scanned with 87% compared with just 13% for 1D barcodes.

"Retail is going mobile. People are not only using their phones to get more information on goods and services, both in-store and on-the-go, but also to purchase," said Laura Marriott, Chief Executive Officer of NeoMedia Technologies, Inc.

"This surge in usage demonstrates growing consumer awareness which will continue to create opportunities for all those in the mobile barcode ecosystem."

JC Penney has jumped on the QR Code bandwagon with an innovative "gift card" campaign. Free "Santa Tags" that are available with purchases contain a QR Code that the buyer can scan to record and attach a personal message. The recipient of the gift can then scan the tag to receive the voice message.Let's hope gift recipients aren't as stumped by QR Codes as the students that took part in a recent survey by youth marketing agency Archrival. Of the 500 participants just 21% managed to scan a QR Code example presented to them.

Source: Bizreport.com