Microsoft this morning claimed new momentum for its Microsoft Tag technology, which lets people scan color barcodes with their phones to automatically connect to online sites, phone numbers and other corners of the digital world. According to Microsoft, more than 1 billion Tags have been printed in the past four months, fueled by heavy usage in magazines and other print campaigns.

Tags can also be scanned from computer screens, as Microsoft Bing showed yesterday by incorporating the technology into its web-based directory of iPhone apps. Using the Microsoft Tag Reader for iPhone, people can scan a tag in the on-screen directory to connect the download page for a particular app on their phones.

Microsoft Tag Reader is also available for Windows Mobile, Symbian, Blackberry, Android and J2ME phones.

The Microsoft Tag technology, introduced in January 2009 in preliminary form, was formally launched in May. Companies that have used Tag include Canon, HMS Host Corp., Jones Apparel Group, Kellogg Co., Kraft Foods, Proctor & Gamble, Razor USA, Simmons Bedding Company, Simon & Schuster, and Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A.

[Related: On the Herbfarm menu: QR codes]

Google has embraced traditional QR codes for its local business listings. Other barcode technologies include Bokode, NeoMedia and others.

Microsoft cites a study of 100 magazines by interactive marketing company Nellymoser Inc., which found that Microsoft Tags were used more than 80 percent of the time for 2D barcode campaigns.

In the Microsoft news release, Nellymoser CEO John Puterbaugh is quoted as saying that Microsoft's lead is "so significant in the publishing industry that Microsoft Tag is the clear front-runner as a next-generation QR code."