To be honest I’m not overall convinced that QR codes are here for very long – while they’ve been successful in some areas – notable Japan – they’ve been around there for some time, while it feels that in the UK they will be quickly overtaken by other tech (as you mention – possibly NFC). However, the problem I have with them is not really the tech but the result – just to exemplify …

I visited the National Space Centre in Leicester last week and noticed a QR code on posters/leaflets that encouraged you to interact with the Centre via it’s Twitter/Facebook accounts. Being a geek, I dutifully pulled out my phone, opened a QR scanning app, got the QR code in the camera frame, scanned it, and eventually found that I had the URL for the centres Facebook page – at this point I switched off the phone not even bothering to follow the link.

My experience reflects your point above about the relative hassle of using a QR vs just going to a browser (at least on a iPhone/Android device), and also the disappointment of going to that trouble and then just getting a facebook URL – nothing I can immediately interact with, no additional information about where I am – just something that would be much more appropriate for me to do at my computer when I get home (I don’t even use the Facebook web interface on my phone, only the app)

My personal feeling is that if I’m going to use a QR code it’s got to deliver something more than just a link I’d have found anyway – something I can interact with immediately, something that rewards me, maybe something special that isn’t available without the QR code. It feels like this kind of thing would work much better with (say) QR codes for specific parts of the museum (perhaps delivering content relevant to your current location in the space) than just general advertising.