BRotD - Entry 0246 Yahoo Finance App Update

Best Reading of the Day

Wow.  Any in-place update of a popular customer facing app like Yahoo Finance is a major undertaken and not to be taken lightly.  This little article is a fun read, and pretty quick.

Take a look:

http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-finance-product-boss-controversial-redesign-backlash-2016-9

Here is a snippet from the piece:

The product team at Yahoo Finance had a hard time sleeping for the whole week leading up to the big redesign in July.

It's not because they weren't confident, says Michael La Guardia, the head of product for both Yahoo Finance and Sports, but because of the drastic changes he was about to bring to one of Yahoo's most popular products ever.

"We knew what we were doing was the right thing," La Guardia told Business Insider.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Do Wearable Devices Hurt Weight Loss?

Incredible finding, though the causation piece is still a long way from being understood.

A 2 year study finds folks who use activity trackers are less effective at losing weight and keeping off than others who merely log their efforts on a website.

Read more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/27/well/activity-trackers-may-undermine-weight-loss-efforts.html?_r=0

Here is a snippet from the piece:

“We were pretty confident” that the volunteers in the group using the activity monitors would exercise more, monitor their calorie intake better, and lose more weight than the people in the self-monitoring group, says John Jakicic, a distinguished professor in the department of health and physical activity at the University of Pittsburgh and the study’s lead author.

Now, I have the Apple Watch and am quite happy with the activity tracking.  Very curious to see where this goes. I'll go ahead and call it ... you shouldn't abandon these just yet.  Lets see what we can learn as wearable devices go mainstream.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Conciege In the Store Through Mobile

I've been talking for a few years now about bringing conciege level service to the masses through technology & mobile.  Looks like it is becoming reality.

A company called ... Concierge, huh, didn't see that coming, has signed with Talbots to put its mobile offering in the store.

Read more:

https://www.luxurydaily.com/talbots-eyes-more-revenue-customer-engagement-with-concierge-in-store-install/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

The Talbots Inc., a retailer known for classic but fashionable womenswear, will implement a new in-store mobile product called Concierge to improve the store experience and boost sales.

Starting Aug. 29 with pilot in Northampton, MA that will extend next month to 60 stores, Talbots will arm store associates with iPads for enhanced customer engagement, mobile point-of-sale use, clienteling and task management. Mad Mobile is enabling the deployment of Concierge for Talbots.

“This is about collecting and displaying customer information as well as digital content,” said Patrick Walsh, senior vice president of sales and operations at Talbots, [Hingham, MA.]

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Apple Event

Ahhh September.  Remember when we couldn't wait to hear the latest from Cupertino about their magical devices?  Those days seem long gone but there is still considerable buzz generated when Apple puts on a show.

New iPhone, the 7, with a new Apple Watch, the Series 2, and a whole slew of other goodies await...

Apple Watch

Looks just like the first one, on my wrist now, but with some internal enhancements.  Water resistance is official now, still square, GPS built in (nice) and ... wait for it ... Pokemon Go on the watch.  What?  Okay, maybe that'll get a few folks excited.

White ceramic is a new material choice.

Folks are noticing a definite slant away from luxury brand and towards fitness with this offering.  Looks like Apple has learned from usage over the last 18 months (I've used mine heavily for health and wellness but couldn't care less about the luxury portion).

Nike got out of the hardware business a while ago but they are back in through a partnership with Apple.  The Nike Apple Watch+

By the way, what is missing here?  The Apple Watch "Edition" that was priced over $10,000.  Looks like the move towards luxury was a mistake for the product line and Apple is making the correction.  The Ceramic watch replaces the Edition but is priced at about $1,200.

Read on:
http://www.recode.net/2016/9/7/12837144/apple-watch-os-updates-new-features-apple-event

Apple iPhone 7

A jet black option.

Nice new camera work.  Faster, better, more amazing.  The phone is as well.

They finally upped the storage in this.  The base 16 GB is now gone, with a new standard at 32 GB.  That is almost mandatory given the 4K video we now have on these phones. Next step up is also incrementally increased.  No more 64 GB option, rather you go straight to 128 GB. Great for us power users.

The biggest news ... the headphone jack is gone.  Gone!  After many many decades.  You will get a set of bluetooth connected headphones, in-ear style.  You'll also get a dongle to plug "old" headphone jacks in through the one remaining opening, the lightning jack.  Want to listen to music in the airport while your iPhone charges?  Good luck.  I basically hate this decision, but I also understand what it opens up for Apple going forward.  Just seems arrogant to me.

Oh, that fancy Jet Black option?  Apple says it will likely scratch easily so they recommend buying a case for it.  Yes.  They did that.

Apple Pay is coming to Japan.  Apparently they use a particular protocol there that wasn't supported.  It will be now.

Further reading?

http://www.recode.net/2016/9/7/12837562/iphone-7-camera-airpods

iPad

Basic updates to their iPad and Pro lines.  Mostly focused on upping the storage, just like the iPhone, to a 32 GB base.

No Apple TV news.  That thing just isn't working out is it?

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Mobile UX by Google

Great little article over on eConsultancy about user experiences on the mobile web.

https://econsultancy.com/blog/68226-23-mobile-ux-mistakes-that-google-doesn-t-like/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

What mobile UX mistakes should marketers be looking out for?

Here are 23 of them for a start.

The information is taken from a variety of Google resources and includes both factors that Google has explicitly stated could be detrimental to search performance, and other factors for which the same could be implied (e.g. from Google's developer guides).

Of course, many factors are used to judge page quality and ultimately if Google judges a page to have the best quality content, it may survive these UX errors.

So, on we go...

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0245 Mobile Payments Stuck?

Best Reading of the Day

Seems like I've been studying, following, and involved in mobile payments forever and haven't see the change we continue to expect.  Is that a correct assessment?  What is the current state of things?  What should we expect tomorrow.

Excellent article by the folks over at Payments Source:

http://www.paymentssource.com/news/technology/mobile-payments-09-why-is-the-tech-forever-stuck-in-beta-3024617-1.html

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Mobile technology is radically changing the way people hail taxis, book lodging, consume entertainment and find prospective dates.

So why hasn't the same kind of revolution taken hold when it comes to how people spend money?

Years of efforts by banks, payment networks, tech startups, wireless networks and retailers have failed to a produce a mobile wallet app that's broadly used and accepted. This despite near certainty among the technology and pundit class that the much-anticipated migration to mobile payments is inevitable.

There's no simple answer to why mobile payments keep failing to gain traction in the market, but a close look at what's gone wrong so far could provide clues to what — if anything — could provide a decisive breakthrough.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant