An article on Mashable reports the recent partnership between Apple, Visa, Mastercard and American Express to formulate a digital mobile platform for all phone users to make purchase through their iPhones while they shop in stores. I guess its about time that this would happen considering there have been numerous digital wallet applications that have hit the market but yet to gain enough traction from their applications. Quite expectedly, the new iPhone come with NFC chips, creating the possibility for digital payments. While a lot have little success in this area, Apple has a considerably high change of gaining success. I do see a lot of innovative opportunities to tap on. Will you be comfortable to try out mobile payment through your phone?
Making mealtime a happier time
I have people telling me that the digital frontier is so near yet so far. With people having doubts in technology and their resistance to changes, it takes a lot more convincing to get them moving. However, the good news is, whether one likes it or not, technology is here to stay and is going to change everything you once think you grasped into something completely unimaginable. That’s the beauty of technology. And, we see that McDonald’s is taking this to their benefit by coming out with the NFC Concept Table. It is the first of it’s kind, launched in Yishun, Singapore. Awesome work from the conservative island of Singapore. It is on it’s experimental stage and would rollout through the entire Asia with families who owns NFC enabled smartphones as their main target audience. The work is aimed at providing kids with a unique yet interactive experience while dining at McDonald’s.
The technology is created by hiding NFC tags under the table which forms up to an entire experience. It allows for kids to have a ‘drive’ around on the table. The best and fun part of the game is the different challenges they face and stories that comes along. It also gives them something to look forward to as they learn to unlock the next part of the game through each of the individual tags. Very interesting and innovative work from Singapore. Thumbs up.
Samsung printers
Check out these three concept printers that Samsung will be featuring in the IFA-electronics extravaganza in Berlin. They all looked pretty cool don’t they? The Internationale Funkausstellulng Berlin auf Deutsch. (IFA) held in Berlin will see a lot of tech companies featuring some really awesome new gadgets and this time round Samsung had just release some pre event images of their printers. The first design, Wave is a printer develop to allow the user to actually sync up their smartphone and print from it. According to Samsung, it is created with a ‘minimal and organic aesthetic’. The second design, The Indie is docking bay design concept with the combination of a sound system with printer. It sure looks like a iPod dock that charges and yet plays music and now it prints at the same time! I think what is more interesting is the fact that Samsung is going to exhibit some of their current color laser printers that could operate with the NFC (Near Field Communications) technology. A technology that would most of the phones are equipped with and trying to prove its worth for the future of mobile technology.
Mobile payment is all about the experience.
Given a choice, would you choose to make a purchase using physical currency or digital currency? It is a norm to purchase an item using physical currency or cards. As the technology for mobile wallets are slowly taking off, it would soon revolutionize the in-store retail experience for shoppers. An article on MobileCommerceDaily.com reports on the 2013 MultiScreen Summit with a MasterCard executive claiming that focusing on payments is only the beginning of the consumer journey for mobile and digital wallets to take off. I totally agree with his statement.
“At the end of the day, the opportunity before us is about the consumer, the purchase and the experience,” said Ken Moy, U.S. emerging payments lead at MasterCard, Purchase, NY.
What we want to achieve would be the experience of having something so personal, so important and so special. One you would not leave home without it. There are so many ways to purchase an item. Instead of having to mull over which of the long queues to join at the cashier, there are many other ways to make purchases now. You could avoid the long queues and buy apple products from the apple store through the wireless credit card terminals that the store assistants had on hand, or tap your phone using NFC to purchase a can of coke off the vending machine or even scan QR codes to fuel your mobile payments. There are much more available options out there right now, which are both interesting and convenient for customers. Of course, it is extremely vital that extra effort must be made to reassure new customers of the benefits and security of using mobile payments.
I believe with the introduction of more innovative ways to make payments, the entire shopping experience would definitely be more enjoyable. More creative ways of making purchases will improve the way people shop and ultimately believe in technology and creativity to enhance their lives. Apart from benefitting just customers alone, the use of technology also has its advantages for businesses. A customer’s buying behavior and pattern would potentially influence their next purchasing decision. According to Scott Hendrickson, head of advertising solutions at PayPal, San Jose, data is core to nailing mobile payments. This data would eventually allow businesses to predict and implement marketing strategies that would deliver more relevant promotions to their customers. Thus, increasing their sales substantially.
Humans tend to be less receptive to changes. The implementation of mobile payments and digital wallets would definitely require greater adoption and education. It would be really cool to see a global acceptance to this new form of payment and it being the tacit approval every time a customer is prompted to make payment.
NFC that Trek!
Outdoor has always been a great medium to leverage on in terms of advertising for mass commuters. Marketers now learn to combine that with technology to enhance the brand experience. With mobile marketing on the rise, we could create outlandish marketing ideas to further engage our audiences. Paramount Pictures has recently leverage on the NFC features of smartphones to allow airport visitors to access exclusive Star Trek movie content via the tapping of their smartphones.
The usage of NFC allows user to tap their phones to obtain material on the go. It is vital to understand that NFC does not require the user to download apps or any other softwares. The amount of efforts is thus reduced and making it even easier now for commuters to gain content. With a clever headline – “The Future Is In Your Hands’, it encourages people to unlock the possible content simply through the tapping of their NFC-enabled smartphone through Captain Kirk’s (Captain of Enterprise ship) communicator.
It is without a doubt that both OOH campaigns and mobile smartphones work very well together. With a big franchise like Start Trek, there are bound to be a large number of fans who would go this extreme mile in doing so. This approach allows the company to engage their fans and convert them to loyal fans as well.
By tapping the communicator with an NFC-enabled phone, users are able to unlock a custom mobile experience that includes exclusive video content.
The campaign targets airport visitors as they often have some extra time on their hands while waiting for a flight and providing them with content related to a movie that many are interested is a good way to drive further interest and ultimately ticket sales.
Star Trek also makes sense for an effort such as this because the films typically feature many high-tech devices.
The seamless experience of NFC technology is definitely one of the possible way to make an out-of-home display interactive.
Zack Chia 