My favorite mobile device isn't my phone, my iPad, or my car. It's my Canon digital SLR camera. What makes that camera different from all the others Canon makes is not its serial number, but a QR code like the one on the left, called a TalkTag. Canon didn't put the code there. I did. For both of us.
Think of the TalkTag as a cloth on the table I've set between Canon and myself — a table across which we can both share whatever we like. (What matters is not the QR code, but the table itself. There are many other possible tablecloths, all of which can also be TalkTags. More about the QR code choice below.) For example, I can share links to all the photos I've shot with the camera, or notes to service people saying, "Be sure to fix the fracture in the eyepiece lens." Canon can share and update the owner's manual and service records, provide links to firmware updates, make lens recommendations, or share whatever makes sense for both of us.
To read the original article: Products-as-Platforms Is Not a Marketing Gimmick - Doc Searls - Harvard Business Review
