Happy 35th Birthday, Bar Codes! :-)

Not everyone gets a mention in The New York Times when they turn 35 -- but neither everyone nor everything is, as the Times put it, a "game changer in retailing" and elsewhere, as the bar code has definitely been.

It's a pretty interesting article, with recollections from the now-retired IBM engineer who led the development team. But perhaps the most interesting parts (which were cut from the version run in the San Francisco Chronicle the day after the original Times version) discuss RFID, in particular the Wal-Mart mandate and how its suppliers pushed back. "A Wal-Mart spokesman, John Simley, acknowledged that 'we hit realism' after the initial surge of 'media-generated hype' for RFID in 2003. But he said Wal-Mart continued to introduce the technology," the Times article said. "Bar codes have evolved to respond to the competition," the article added.

Indeed. Today, several vendors are selling both 2-D bar code and RFID technologies, and making more money on the former. One wonders if and when modern RFID solutions will be similarly celebrated in the mass media upon some noteworthy anniversary. We can but hope...

Imitation Being the Sincerest Form of Flattery...

...I am borrowing an idea from my former Aberdeen Group colleague and the coolest enterprise mobility analyst I know, Philippe Winthrop, an analyst at Strategy Analytics and the guy behind the most excellent blog "Enterprise Mobility Matters." In his recent posting, "Fireside Chats on Enterprise Mobility," he describes a nifty interviewing methodology he's introduced at his blog.

Quite simply, I'm borrowing -- NOT stealing -- and adapting it for those of you interested in RFID. (At MIT, where I went to school, they said MIT students never lie, cheat or steal -- they elaborate, collaborate and borrow.)

I'm starting to e-mail questions to some of the people I believe to be the leading lights in the industry, and will share my questions, their answers, and my reactions to them with you here. So stay tuned, and send suggestions for interview subjects and questions you'd like to see them answer. Meanwhile, thank Philippe for me, should you see him or visit his blog, which I strongly urge you to do!