Google's Favorite Places Reveiled Google Launches New Reality-Based Business Search

oogle has unveiled their new 'Favorite Places' feature today, which
helps you quickly pull up information about aย restaurantย or shop that
you're standing in front of – in real life. By using your mobile
phone and some QR bar codes, you can quickly pull up formation on some
100,000 businesses in the united States that will be given
theย prestigiousย title of A Favorite Place On Google .
Based on business search results, Google has selected 100,000
businesses, based across 9,000 cities in the United States. These
businesses will be deemed a Favorite Place On Google and will receive
a sticker to place on the front of their business. The sticker will have
a QR code that can be scanned by certain apps on certain mobile phones.
Now, Google users will be able to scan the QR code, and receive Google
Search's Business listening for that business. You'll receive
information like it's rating, reviews from Google users, and possibly
coupons. While there there wasn't anyย announcementย for this to spread
outside of the United States, Google does plan to add more businesses to
the service.
While this is a certainly a neat feature, Google's business search
doesn't have as detailed business reviews as say – Yelp, but I
suppose it's a start, and this may encourage more Google Business
Reviews. Google's end of the service is free but your mobile phone will
need a bar code reading app, which is free on Android but not on other
phone platforms.