Are companies amalgamating apps for a more holistic user experience?
During the Contactless Intelligence Conference a few weeks ago we ran a session that looked at how NFC, BLE and inclusion into the mobile would work. It was very interesting stuff and I have to thank both Owen Geddes from Appflare and David Sear from Weve for their participation. Bottom line is that all of these technologies can live together if amalgamated in the correct way, with both strengths and weaknesses for all the technologies out there. Perhaps 'application amalgamation' should be the key phrase for the next few years in our industry.
After a great session from both Owen and David, I read with great interest that Tesco and Waitrose have become the first supermarkets in the UK to trial Apple's iBeacon technology. Tesco began its trial in its Chelmsford store last month, while Waitrose started testing the technology in Swindon on the 2nd May this year. Waitrose included a smartphone app that uses iBeacon to alert shoppers to price promotions when in the relevant section of the store. It also allows them to scan barcodes and read customer reviews of products, add items to a virtual shopping basket and eventually to pay for their shop via a mobile wallet. Waitrose say they are still exploring how exactly payments might work, and is considering partners such as PayPal. A trial of the scheme with customers is still forthcoming.
Tesco (who turned on contactless in 490 of their stores a few weeks ago) have so far used the iBeacon to remind customers to pick up pre-ordered items, but said it is holding off sending promotions at the moment over concerns it may scare customers off.
The use of promotional material appearing on users mobile handsets through the phones mobile wallet is starting to make a little bit of an impact with companies keen to experiment on the idea in their campaigns. One organisation that has started this trend in the US is the TV company Showtime. Showtime has amalgamated Apple’s mobile wallet, as well as Google Wallet on Android phones, in the marketing for its new horror series Penny Dreadful. Showtime’s Penny Dreadful fan pass doesn’t come with a bar code or a loyalty code, and you won’t be able to get any rebates with it, but it automatically lets you know when new content for the show is available online. “It’s kind of like a mini app,” explained Ken Todd, Showtime’s VP of digital content syndication and mobile development.
The network is now thinking about taking the passbook experience even further by adding geofencing elements to it. Find yourself too close to one of the giant billboards that are promoting the TV show in Los Angeles and New York, and an alert for it would automatically pop up on your phone’s lock screen. Apple executives were allegedly very surprised when this application was demonstrated to them, according to Showtime sources…
And it's not just mobile wallets that appear to be amalgamating either. Wii U will begin supporting transport e-money cards compatible with Suica, a contactless smart card used for train fare in Japan, as a way of making monetary payments, Nintendo confirmed last week during their financial review presentation. The company previously only supported credit cards and pre-paid cards to make digital payments before experimenting with the Wii U console's near-field communication function to make payments using e-money cards. This function will be tested out in Japan first before being introduced elsewhere.
"I understand that approximately 250,000 shops where there are more than 450,000 machines that accept Suica at the moment, and I believe that the additional impact of more than one million units of a game console with an e-money payment system suddenly becoming available among families would not be so insignificant," said Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. "We think that this NFC payment function will help provide more convenience to consumers," Iwata continued. "And at the same time, I think that this will be an opportunity for both Nintendo and our business partners to come up with new ways to do business on Wii U."
New ways, new business. Based on application amalgamation? Perhaps...
Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence
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