Apple Payments

News, news, news.  This one is swinging at me from all over my sources.

"Apple discussing iPhone payments with high profile retail brands."

http://9to5mac.com/2014/05/29/apple-discussing-iphone-payments-service-with-high-profile-retail-brands/

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Apple wants to replace yet another daily tool with your iPhone: your wallet.

Executives from the Cupertino-based technology company have begun discussions with directors from retail store chains about a mobile payments service, according to a source with direct knowledge of the talks. Previous reports indicated that Apple is exploring new payments services through discussions with executives from existing payments companies. These latest mobile payments-related discussions, which have occurred with retail store brands such as those that sell luxury clothing and premium goods, have taken place over the past couple of months, according to the source. The source declined to be named and requested that the identities of the companies talking to Apple not be published.

Here is one more article on the subject:

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/technology/heres-the-latest-evidence-for-apples-mobile-payments

Next week's Apple event should reveal much more.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0122 Walmart-Free City?

The New Yorker has a very good read on what they've dubbed the 'Walmart-Free City'.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/currency/2014/05/a-walmart-free-portland.html

Here is a snippet from the piece:

In October, the city council of Portland, Oregon, in between updating the payroll system for the police honor guard and changing the duties of the golf advisory committee, adopted a resolution banning Walmart—and Walmart alone— from the city’s investment portfolio. The resolution, unanimously approved, cited an anonymous executive who was quoted in Charles Fishman’s 2006 book, “The Wal-Mart Effect,” saying, “They have killed free-market capitalism in America.”

Interesting setup.  What you may find even more interesting are the surprising twists and turns the story takes.  Is a "Walmart-Free City" a good thing, or a bad thing, or something else?  The answer is likely dependent on the person providing the answer.  It is much more complicated than you might thing, if you listen to the article.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0121 Victoria's Secret Mobilizing Direct Mail

At the end of every week we see a pile of printed ads for the local supermarkets.  Every week.  Every week I pitch them in to recycling often without even a glance.

Can we digitize such things?

Not yet but Victoria's Secret is at least providing a digital interaction that is meaningful.

Their mobile app will be used to interact with direct mailings.  This is similar to what Walmart is doing.  Here is the article:

http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/victoria-s-secret-s-new-app-mobilizes-direct-mail-157993

Here is a snippet from that piece:

While a number of different retailers continue to struggle in building mobile apps that keep people coming back, Victoria’s Secret’s college-focused Pink is taking a different approach by integrating its efforts with more traditional marketing tactics.

The lingerie retailer’s iPhone and Android app uses a smartphone’s built-in camera to scan images and pieces of marketing collateral. For example, additional digital content is unlocked by hovering a mobile device over a piece of mail, per a call-to-action that pops up when the app is first opened.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Apple Buys Beats Music

This news is everywhere so if you are reading it here for the first time, well I'm not sure what to say.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/apple-buys-beats-music-electronics-for-3-billion-87130333904.html?src=rss

Here is a snippet from that piece:

CUPERTINO, Calif. - Apple is striking a new chord with a $3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics, a headphone and music streaming specialist that also brings the swagger of rapper Dr. Dre and recording impresario Jimmy Iovine.

Wednesday’s announcement comes nearly three weeks after deal negotiations were leaked to the media. It’s by far the most expensive acquisition in Apple’s 38-year history, a price that the company is paying to counter a threat posed to its iTunes store.

The best analysis I've heard about this came on the radio this morning so I cannot quote the source directly or provide proper credit.  What was said went roughly like this:

"I'm still a believer in Apple so I can't help but ask, given the limited value we can see in this deal, what are we not seeing?  What might be coming that hasn't been revealed yet that makes use of this new partnership?"

Interesting.  Something in wearable devices was mentioned as a possibility, but what, and how?

I have no idea.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

**UPDATE** I just read Beats has 250K users in just 4 months.  Their churn rate must be amazing.  Want to know why Apple bought them?  That's why.  Stickiness with users that will allow it to grow and grow and grow.

Target and Omnichannel

Target is in the news, B2B news, and it is interesting reading.

http://chainstoreage.com/article/target-creates-digital-advisory-council-speed-omnichannel-efforts

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Target Corp. has formed a Digital Advisory Council as part of its efforts to accelerate its digital transformation. Target said the council will help guide the retailer’s omnichannel strategies and push it to innovate faster, and discover new ways to leverage technology to enhance the shopper experience – both online and in stores.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0120 SEO Basics

What is SEO.

Special Energy Organization?

No.

How about 'Search Engine Optimization'?  Yes.  This is the set of methods used to ensure your website is returned as a google search (or Bing, or Yahoo, or whatever) rather than the other guy's.

Want to know more?

Read this article:

https://econsultancy.com/blog/64915-what-seo-beginners-need-to-know-a-basic-skills-guide

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Microsoft Tablets - Surface Pro 3 and ????

Microsoft is frantically trying to either catch up in the tablet space or leapfrog the competition, depending on who you listen to, by creating a device that is both a laptop and a tablet.

The announcement of the new Surface Pro 3 comes about a half a year after the Surface Pro 2.

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/products/surface-pro-3

Here is a pretty good review of the device:

http://www.cnet.com/products/microsoft-surface-pro-3/

The biggest news might be what was missing.  Rumors were heavily inclined towards a Surface Mini and it did not appear.  Most revealing, however, was the lack of a Windows RT version in this announcement breaking the pattern established through the first two iterations of the Surface line.  Version 1 included the Surface and the Surface Pro.  Version 2 included the Surface 2 and the Surface Pro 2.  However, version 3 only included the Surface Pro 3.

What happened to Windows RT?

The current theory dominating the waves is this signals the death of Windows RT.  Left out of the discussion though is the recent acquisition of Nokia Devices by Microsoft and the Lumia line of products including the excellent Lumia 2520 Windows RT devices.

One criticism of the Surface line is a lack of clarity.  What are you getting and why would I get "less" of a Windows device in RT when I can get the "full" version?

My prediction is Microsoft is solving this problem by utilizing the existing Nokia line for Windows RT and will now target Surface exclusively to the high-end 'ultrabook' demographic.

Time will tell.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Wal-Mart's mReceipts

Wal-Mart quietly made some news the other day and I nearly missed it.  You know what a receipt is but what is a 'mReceipt'?  It is what I call it when your receipt is sent to your mobile phone.

If you don't follow the Morning News Beat, you should:

http://www.morningnewsbeat.com/

Here is the full article that I only found thanks to Morning News:

http://www.internetretailer.com/2014/04/22/wal-mart-will-turn-electronic-receipt-sales-tool

Here is the first bit from that article:

Wal-Mart plans a national rollout starting this week of electronic receipts that the retailer will text to customers. That will enable the big retail chain to accumulate large quantities of data about what a shopper buys and send personalized offers to shoppers who opt into the program, Gibu Thomas, Wal-Mart’s senior vice president of mobile and digital media, told attendees today at the Source14 conference organized by mobile analytics technology provider Flurry Inc. in San Francisco.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0119 Madison Ave.

Is the Customer Participation Era the end of Madison Avenue advertising?

Mad Men coming to an end? (Yes, the series finale will air shortly but what about the real world?)

A very interesting article lays out the end of Madison Avenue:

https://econsultancy.com/blog/64894-are-consumers-killing-madison-avenue

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Why do they say we’ve no use for marketing? It’s because of the rising power of the voice of the customer. With the growing availability of consumer opinions, the importance of brand messaging is diminishing.

Consequently, things are changing in the world of advertising. Slowly, but surely.

Hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  Please take a moment on Monday to think of those who gave their lives in the service of this country.

Best,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0118 Design at Microsoft

Please forgive the 2nd entry in the "daily" postings but this one is well worth reading as well as entry 117.

Do you wonder how design works?  What is "User Experience (UX)"?  How do the big companies do it?

If they do it well they do it exactly like the small companies.

This blog post from Microsoft is a very good read:

http://blogs.office.com/2014/05/22/the-art-of-designing-office-for-ipad/

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Hello once again from the Office for iPad team. We’ve hit a great milestone with over 27 million downloads of Office for iPad and we would like to say thank you to everyone who has tried out the apps and provided feedback to help us continually improve Office for you. Today we want to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the design and creative journey we took as we reimagined Office from the ground up for iPad.

From its inception, the Office for iPad project has been a blend of imagination and passion. When we had our first tantalizing glimpse of the iPad, we were intrigued by the huge opportunity ahead: enabling Office customers—over 1 billion around the globe—to rediscover the power of mobile productivity in new and exciting ways.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0117 EMV Adoption

Europe / Mastercard / VISA

EMV

What is it really?  A massive waste of money?  Yes.  It is also the new standard for payments that has already been mostly adopted in Europe and is now being force-fed upon U.S. merchants thanks to the security breach at Target last holiday season.

Here is Karen Webster on the subject:

http://www.pymnts.com/news/2014/is-the-emv-journey-worth-the-price/#.U35AWtJdU1I

Here is a snippet from that piece:

...if it’s going to take 5 (or more likely 10) years for ubiquity around a standard that’s already moving into middle age, aren’t we better off putting our collective energies into something that will enable the future right now – a future that isn’t tied to hardware like NFC is but enables any connected devices to interact with any other connected device?

She also states she is one of the few who still thinks Apple will not release NFC capability this year.  I'm still among the ranks of non-believers.  Here is that quote:

On the second point, having Apple come out and say that it will embrace NFC to enable payment at the point of sale would surely help ignite NFC payments. But this is where I scratch my head. I know that I am practically the only one in the world now that thinks that Apple isn’t likely to enable NFC for payment, given all of the rumors that are swirling around.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Misc. News - Mobile Statistics, Gift Cards, & Shopping Delivery

Several pieces of news caught my eye this week as I have caught up with my reading today.

First up is the adoption and success of mobile gift cards:

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/mobile-gift-cards-break-into-tech-savvy-districts

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Mobile gift cards are experiencing a major growth spurt, especially in the most digital and cultural cities of North America, where several restaurants and bars in San Francisco including Dosa, Yank Sing, St. Vincent, Nice Ventures’ Terzo, Rose’s Café, Rose Pistola and Michael Chiarello’s Coqueta have all developed relationships with mobile gifting service Gratafy.

Next is a new set of mobile usage data:

http://www.internetretailer.com/2014/05/15/tablets-convert-better-smartphones-uk

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Tablet conversion rates beat smartphone conversion rates in the United Kingdom. Of the 21,400 sales originating across both devices per day in the country in April, tablets had a conversion rate of 5.88%—down from 6.05% in March—while smartphones had a conversion rate of 2.76%—up slightly from 2.75% in March, according to web marketing firm Affiliate Window. The overall mobile conversion rate last month was 3.83%, compared with 3.92% the month prior.

Finally, news on Tesco's effort called 'Shop&Go' where consumers complete their shopping then hand their carriage full of goods over to an attendant who bags it and delivers it to the consumer's home.

http://retailanalysis.igd.com/Hub.aspx?id=23&tid=3&nid=12510

Here is a snippet from that piece:

The new concept is called 'Shop&Go' and it is believed that the service could be extended to other stores in the future. Customers who spend over £35 have the option to leave their groceries at the store and choose a free one-hour slot for them to be delivered to their home. Customers must live within three miles and can currently choose five delivery slots per day between 15:00-22:00. This is just the latest in a number of piloted or new initiatives by Tesco in the capital city, where Tesco has a dedicated team looking at delivering a stronger and more tailored proposition to cater for London's unique challenges.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0116 Silent Check-In

Two good write-ups recently captured the 'Foursquare' release of their new product named 'Swarm'.

Foursquare is a check-in company that allows you to tell people in your network where you are and interact with them.  These are great for high-density areas such as major metropolitan areas.

Here is the best write-up from 'Tech Crunch':

http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/15/foursquares-swarm-and-the-rise-of-the-invisible-app/

Here is a snippet from that piece:

The underlying mechanics of Swarm are what’s really interesting here — and more importantly what it says about the next generation of apps you’ll be using on your smartphone.

There’s a fundamental shift in the way that we use apps underway, and the symptoms are all over the map. From a deeper, more thoughtful approach to push notifications to the breaking apart of large, unwieldy apps into smaller more focused components.

The shift we’re seeing will be the third strata of user interaction since the iPhone popularized the mobile app in a major way.

Here is the 2nd article, also worth reading:

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/05/15/can-foursquares-new-swarm-app-save-check/

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Foursquare was founded on check-ins. When the original app emerged in 2009, it blossomed on the idea that you could broadcast your location and see where your friends were, all while earning playful badges, points and mayorships.

It was this reputation that caused such a stir when Foursquare announced plans to pull these features and move them into a new app called Swarm. While the company developed its core offering around exploration and recommendations, it sought to preserve some of its legacy in a new, lightweight experience.

Today, the app launches on iOS and Android.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0115 Gamification and Ace Hardware

Gamification is the taking of a simple task and turning it in to a game-like interaction.  The idea is to engage with the user/customer more than otherwise would be possible.

Ace Hardware is doing this through mobile games:

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/ace-hardware-increases-mobile-engagement-289pc-via-opt-in-interactive-game

Here is a snippet from the piece:

A group of Ace Hardware stores reported an overall increase in post-promotion engagement of 289 percent from an interactive mini-game developed for this year’s Saint Patrick’s Day weekend.

The “Lucky Spinner” promotion was part of an ongoing strategy to attract younger generations and compete with the neighborhood hardware stores’ top tier competitors. 

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0114 ACH Power

I pretty much read everything Karen Webster writes at PMTS.com.  She is back with more interesting writing.

http://www.pymnts.com/news/2014/the-payments-networks-next-real-threat/#.U2fZ8IFdU1I

Here is a snippet from that piece:

...

Innovators have fantasized about an ACH-powered network for like forever in an effort to reduce the cost of payments and break their dependence on the existing payments networks and the interchange fee structure associated with it. It’s what MCX is clearly interested in doing, it’s why PayPal wants its customers to register their bank accounts to their PayPal accounts instead of their credit card accounts, and it’s what every mobile app with a payments account registered to it wants too. The trick for these new potential “networks” will be how acceptance is priced. If it’s too high, and merchants won’t have any incentive to adopt; too low and banks won’t be able to monetize their precious asset – the bank account.

...

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

iBeacons and Walgreens

News of the day.  Another retailer has embraced iBeacon technology, through bluetooth low energy (BLE) and their app.  These iBeacons enable personalized interaction with customers in the store.

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/walgreens-tests-ibeacon

Here is a snippet from that piece:

A Walgreens executive at the Mcommerce Summit: State of Mobile Commerce 2014 revealed that the company launched an iBeacon pilot program in several Duane Reade stores in New York earlier this week.

One of the main takeaways ... is the growing role that in-store experiences are playing in helping Walgreens build out a mobile strategy. The decision to launch the iBeacon pilot is based on findings from Walgreens that the average in-store, online and mobile shopper spends six times more than the average store-only shopper.

This is not surprising but is a very good reveal by the folks at Mobile Commerce Daily.

On April 23rd we saw news about the Walgreens app focusing on the in-store experience.  Read about that here.

There will be more retailers putting out iBeacon and Beacon pilots this year.

Have a great weekend,

J.W. Gant

Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0113 Tablet Sales Flattening

This story on tablets is the best story I read all day:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2457318,00.asp

Here is a snippet from that piece:

With sales of tablets falling, the so-called "experts" are now re-evaluating predictions about tablets taking over the computing market. It never made sense in the first place.

All eyes are on the market share leader, Apple, whose iPad sales fell 16 percent during the first quarter. Some of this has to do with customers moving to Android tablets, but a downward trend is clear. The Microsoft Surface also took a beating.

As I've written about in this blog before Microsoft made a strategic mistake with Windows 8 by completely ignoring traditional PC users.  We still want our desktops and/or our laptops, we just like tablets as well.  Their changes to Windows 8, through Windows 8.1 and the pending Windows 8.1 Update 1 (what?) are moving more and more towards desktop friendly features.

Meanwhile the flattening of iPad sales just points investors to the lack of a new, sensational, product.

At home I have a desktop "main machine" with about 6TB of storage, a computer connected to my television (HTPC), three active tablet devices (Nexus 7, Windows 8, and iPad Air) and at work I have one laptop.  I also carry an iPhone.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant