• by Mark Walsh , April 12, 2011

Mobile barcode scanning was up 800% in the first quarter, according to new data from barcode technology company Scanbuy. Scanning surged 16-fold during the holiday season last year after increasing 700% for the first three quarters of 2010. For the first time since the second quarter of last year, scanning of 2D codes surpassed that of traditional UPC codes. Retail and media companies generated some of the most popular 2D campaigns in the quarter. Among mobile operating systems, Android continued to generate the most scans, while the iPhone accounted for the most scans from a single device.

"The fact that 2D barcodes overtook 1D barcodes in overall scans is a strong sign that 2D codes, like QR codes, are becoming more commonly adopted by both marketers, publishers and users," said Scanbuy President and CEO Mike Wehrs, in a statement. The company's ScanLife platform supports a range of barcodes including 2D, UPC and its proprietary EZcodes. The findings reported are based on data collected from the ScanLife mobile application as well as third-party 2D barcode apps published by Scanbuy customers. UPC data was only collected from the ScanLife app.