QR bar codes can store much more information than traditional UPC bar codes. UDR plans to add these bar codes to its print advertising, marketing collateral, website pages and its apartment community locations. Prospects and customers will be able to scan the QR bar code with most mobile devices and be directed to the Company’s website, receive an apartment related message, view apartment related-digital media, or receive other pertinent information about UDR.

"In Japan and in Europe, people use the camera in their phones as a navigation device," said Dhrubo Sircar, Senior Vice President of Technology for UDR. "They see something of interest, point the phone and related information appears on the cell phone screen. We believe that U.S. businesses and consumers will come to rely on this technology as well, and when they do, we plan to be ready."

"By combining this technology with geographic positioning system (GPS) capabilities, we can offer customers and prospects instant directions to our UDR communities," Sircar added. "This not only makes shopping for an apartment much easier for prospects; it also enables us to track the effectiveness of our print advertising and sales collateral."

UDR is also working on cell phone speech recognition solutions for mobile apartment search to make the apartment search process using a mobile appliance as easy as possible.