According to GS1 UK, the British branch of the global barcode regulator, there were 100 stores scanning at the till by 1984. It was 5,000 by 1993 and 10,000 two years later. By 1995, the figure was 20,000 and GS1 ceased bothering to count. The barcode had won.

Source: BBC News ‘Magazine’ article

Is it just me, or does this article say there were 10,000 scanners in 1995, and 20,000 in 1995? Does this mean it jumped from 10,000 to 20,000 in the course of that year? I’m genuinely not sure; this passage is pretty hard to comprehend.

The article goes on to say:

The next big thing in barcodes is people using their mobile phone cameras as readers.

It doesn’t bother mentioning why this is important. I’ve decided this article is poorly written.