This isn’t the first time that we’ve talked about Microsoft Tag, however, the last time we did, MS Tag Reader for BlackBerry was still in beta.  Yesterday on the Official Microsoft Blog, Aaron Getz, General Manger of Microsoft Tag announced that Microsoft’s mobile barcode technology has come out of beta.

Today, I am thrilled to announce Tag is coming out of beta and that basic use of Tags will be free of charge. This specifically means you will be able to generate and use Tags that link to our standard scenarios and use the reader application at no cost. By simply going to Tag.Microsoft.com, you can create Tags and deliver rich interactive experiences on mobile phones, track your Tags and read about how companies like Conde Nast and others are using Tag.


If memory serves me correctly, the beta version of MS Tag Reader for BlackBerry was a little buggy.  It appears that the Microsoft Tag for BlackBerry has been cleaned up a bit and I really like that it uses the camera’s built in auto focus feature when scanning barcodes.  The one thing that I don’t like about Microsoft Tag Reader is that it doesn’t appear to scan standard QR codes.  QR code is pretty much the standard when it comes to 2D barcode technology.  MS Tag reader should be able to scan QR code and I hope that it will in a future update.

Get more information about Microsoft Tag and download instructions for BlackBerry here