There was a lot of passionate response to the post a few weeks ago “Will Mobile Phones Replace In-Store Retail Salespeople”. Even more reason that these three announcements this week caught my eye:

■  The Aberdeen Group published a report that stated in 2008, the total of digital signage market revenue stood at $766 million and is expected to reach $2.2 billion by 2014, growing at a healthy CAGR of 20%.
■  The London Daily Mirror reported according to unnamed sources that Nokia is planning to begin rolling out embedded NFC (near field communications) kits into its entire line of Symbian phones beginning Q3, 2010. The Finnish giant already has NFC in selected handsets, such as the 6216 Classic.
■  Malaysian manufacturer Fonelabs will produce two million low cost (under $100) NFC enabled phones in 2010
What do these three items have to do with retail? First, just as a refresher, Near Field Communication (NFC) is “a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology which enables the exchange of data between devices over about a 10 centimeter (around 4 inches) distance.” In other words, if you have an NFC enabled phone and opt-in, your mobile phone will be able to communicate with another proximate electronic device automatically.

The types of applications for NFC on mobile are numerous:

■  Electronic payments – swipe your phone and make a payment without a credit card. NFC technology is already being used in Japan in more than 30,000 stores. Users can place $50 amounts, for example, into their smart phones to make payments or even use them in smart vending machines.
■  Mobile ticketing on public transportation – swipe your phone on readers placed in buses, airlines, and trains
■  Electronic keys – swipe your phone and open hotel doors or your house door
■  Smart posters – use your phone to read RFID tags on billboards and other signs to receive additional information and to let the “billboard” know you are there
Smart posters is the one that I find particularly intriguing.

Let’s imagine for a second, that you walk into your favorite bookstore where you have purchased many titless in the past. With your permission, as you walk past an internal electronic billboard, you allow the billboard to communicate with your phone. Instantly, the billboard scans your past purchases and recommends new books to you that you might enjoy reading. Or even better, a scanner reads your phone as you walk in and sends you an SMS with a customized offer to you for a discount on items you purchase that day as an opted-in frequent customer.

It’s kind of like going into your favorite pub where everyone knows your name. Of course, downsides such as privacy cannot be underestimated (but, that is why it has to be on an opt-in basis). Imagine, though, how much more effective it would be to having a customized sales experience. In clothing stores, sales people can know what you like, know your size, know if it is in-stock, and immediately bring you customized selection of new items. Out of stock items could be posted to your customer ID and custom SMS messages could be automatically sent to let you know when the item is back in-store.

For the retailer, NFC gives unprecedented real time monitoring of consumer behavior in-store that could lead to better consumer in-store experiences – more accurate preference tracking of target audiences for better merchandise selection, display and pricing, and an ideal feedback channel for more detailed research. Individually, salespeople could be more effective in providing consumers with more meaningful in-store experiences if they are familiar with their past interactions.

Will mobile phones replace in-store retail salespeople? The consensus opinion from that last post was no, but it surely will change the playing field in a substantial way. The impending mobile NFC introductions are yet another way that the retail experience of the 21st century will never be the same.

Mark Jaffe is a mobile industry and digital media executive with an active consulting business that enables mobile technology companies, as well as other technology and digital content companies, to achieve breakthrough revenue growth with sustainable profits from a foundation of sound strategic analysis and innovation. He is also a noted speaker at industry conferences, as well as a speaker and facilitator at corporate retreats and strategy workshops. Further biographical information can be found at www.markjaffe.com.  His mobile industry blog, Mobile Mandala, can be viewed at  www.mobilemandala.com

Courtesy of Brian J. Friedman

Overview of the the social networks for sale :
The leading social network in France and growing world wide :

• 2 Mobile micro blogging services including : text, photos, videos, podcast…
• Dating service, largest mobile site directory in the world and customizable personal start page
• Optimized as a webapp on all types of mobile devices
• 10 millions de pages views per month (50% in France)
• 5 K euros of ad revenue monthly (non optimized)
• White label platform optimized for brands who wish to create a mobile social networking tool
• Growth obtained purely via viral means

Included in sale :

• Source code properly documented
• Tech hand over
• Chandover of contracts and ad revenue

Documentation:
If you are interested please feel free to download the PDF document which goes more in depth.
Presentation : bundle_igloo-MobitypeSales-proposal.pdf
Portfolio : 20091130_bundle_portfolio

Contact : bundle@texom.com

http://www.admob.com/google

Yes finally it has happened… we have speculated for years exactly when would Google munch AdMob. I guess that they held out till the right time… the $750 million time.

I am personally very excited to see this finally happening. Having worked with AdMob for several years it is great to see a good idea and great execution paying off in the mobile arena. AdMob have really set up a great business and are pleasant to work with. So for me it is a great news to see them joining with Google who has really made forays into the mobile sphere with Android over the past year or two.

Google even set up a simple page explaining their 750 million all stock acquisition here.(Google Press News). Also here in their BLOG went into more depth on the move.

What is interesting about Google’s graphics is : Showing that it doesn’t have  SMS marketing !

Are they trying to say something else ? Maybe that they need to acquire an SMS marketing company ?

What I think good is, this will make investors even more excited about the mobile space and start putting money back into it.

Growing pervasiveness of mobile widgets has created every mobile app designers a challenging role to play within a limited space. Only 1 percent of Mobile Widgets are successful.

What makes some widgets thrive and used by millions, and others with equal functionality bite the dust ?

Rajesh demystified the ‘invisible’ layer below the surface with 10 pragmatic tips, which covered some of the most useful and often ignored standard design principals and the tip & trick to apply them in mobile context.

The Ten Tips are :

1. Design for a MobileUser
2. Know Widget
3. Target Specific Set of Users
4. Play Nice
5. Utilize Device Potential
6. Focus on One Functionality
7. Simplify Features
8. Grab the User
9. Add Social
10. Make it Fun

Have a look at the Audio Visual Presentation.