Dying QR Code and Thriving NFC?

“QR Code is dying?” “QR Code will be replaced by NFC soon!”  With the advance of technology, it is said that QR Code would be replaced by NFC, the modern technology that can help users hold data in their mobile devices and utilize it in many different domains, including paying bills and retrieving information.  Many people nowadays start to complain about the complicated process to use QR Codes.  Take out the phone, download the app, scan and wait, finally the link pops up.

However, I personally think that QR code won’t be replaced by NFC based on some reasons.

Comparison

Below are some basic comparison of QR Code and NFC.

	QR Code	NFC
Infrastructure	QR codes use the camera already in the phone and only need a small “QR reader” app to enable the device to support the technology	NFC technology requires special “initiator” hardware that creates an NFC field searching for a “target”, a NFC chip that holds data for the device to pick up.
Reach	There are still very few phones that support NFC on the market	Frequently used in modern market by companies.
Production & Implementation	Generating QR codes is simple once you have a generator. The barriers to adding QR codes are really very low	To implement NFC a publisher must embed a NFC chip into every target
Price	Low (nearly zero)	High
Resource:  http://getqrky.com/blog/why-nfc-won%E2%80%99t-kill-qr-codes/

For me, I think QR Code is alike website URL, a way for users to retrieve information more easily. It is not a new technology for people anymore, but it is indispensable for internet users. NFC is undoubtedly a technology that will bring convenience to human’s life. However, the usage of NFC requires high support from technology for users, which is the reason why it still needs some time to reach a high popularity of people using NFC chips.   

Price

Generally speaking, adapting NFC is more costly than using QR Code. A QR Code can be printed with nearly no extra cost for a company. However, to support NFC, a company has to invest high amount of money on hardware updating. For some relatively small- scale companies, NFC wouldn’t be best choice for them due to their limited budget.   

Different Usage

Finally, one of the most important reasons that convince me that QR Code will not be replaced is because QR Code and NFC can actually work perfectly and separately in deferent media. QR Code would works good in some small printed medium, such as cookie packages or magazine.  On the other hand, NFC would work perfectly in the outdoor advertisement.

In sum, based on the reasons of price and usages, QR Code is not going to be replaced by NFC in the future. I think they would work coherently in different mediums.