Forrester released a study on QR/Barcode mobile usage. QR/2D barcode scanning is up to 5% (from 1% a year ago) for smart-phone users in the US. Earlier reports stated a total of 14MM "scanned a QR code ever", but its unknown if this was a superset of smartphone or general mobile users.
Either way, it’s still a small market – 6MM people in the US, primarily in the 25-34 "affluent" demo. Something to consider when adding QR codes (especially if its intent is solely to redirect to a URL) to print/web materials. In fact, if you're setting up QR codes to redirect to a simply root URL, you're wasting your time.
Because these reports rarely quantify their numbers, I pulled the latest survey data from Q3'11 US Census, CITA, ITU and Nielsen data.
Mobile QR Code Usage in the US
Approx Mobile accounts: 285.0MM
Approx Smart Phones: 114.5MM
Approx QR/Barcode Users: 5.7MM
Over the next 24 months I'm expecting to see a shift from QR code usage to object/image recognition as redirect markers. Most smartphones can train and recognize an image or object in the real world as a redirect or augmentive marker, rendering the insano checkerboard that is a QR code less novel.
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