Posts tagged near field communication
What is Possible with Mobile Shopping: Some Words from Zipcar’s CEO
Oct 11th
The Mobile is undoubtedly becoming the preferred method for purchasing. In fact, almost half of the US population shopped by Mobile Phone in June. And according 
to Juniper research that number is set to only increase by about 50% in the next two years. An expected 580 million people will be shopping by Mobile phone by 2014 with mobile transactions are expected to total more than 730 billion by 2017; a 25% yearly increase from now until then.
These type of facts are proof that we are seeing a revolution in the way that people find, order and pay for products & services. As we witness the shift to the era of the Mobile Shopper, more companies are securing their mobile first strategy. Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith inspires us with his comment at this year’s Mobilecon about the changes in consumer behavior the company has seen in the last eighteen months from, internet to mainly mobile use.
“Consumers want mobile applications, they want social media as part of their experience,” something the company has been tapping into for the last year.
Griffith is focused on the capability the mobile has, which a computer simply does not, “the ability to reach customers whenever and wherever.” That possibility alone has led the company to plan on intensely moving towards a fully Mobile Zipcar experience. Zipcar future innovations will move beyond just the ability to reserve, and use the mobile to unlock and start a Zipcar, to a completely enhanced in-car driving experience. The Mobile device will become an ‘in car assistant’ to help navigate, plan an itinerary, build an iTunes playlist and provide information about the car.
Griffith’s insights feed into the AIRTAG vision of “Mobile possibilities,” a possibility which is backed by concrete facts of the steady inclination of Mobile Shoppers. The last months at AIRTAG have seen our innovations direct much of a focus on the idea of the “anytime and anywhere,” user experience. Our Mobile solutions, for partners like McDonald’s and Carrefour have been about disrupting the traditional shopping experience so users are able to do everyday things, at their own discretion, from when and where they want.
Obviously penetration in the retail environment is a longer process then let’s say for a platform like Zipcar; which has only ever entailed online use. But, it is clear that more people are Shopping by Mobile because it proves to be quite simply; easier and better. Between now and 2014, we at AIRTAG look forward to continually bringing new innovations to our solutions and exploring all of the possible in Mobile Shopping.
Learn more about AIRTAG’s Mobile Shopping Solutions
Expected rise in Mobile Shopping; User Friendliness and Consumer Insight should be at the top of the list
Jul 20th
“John Donahoe, president/CEO of eBay said that eBay and PayPal’s expected $10 billion in volume transactions this year will be more 
than double what the companies saw last year. The results are proof that that there is a staggering surge in mobile shopping and payments, which did not exist years ago.” Although the eBay PayPal predictions were re-worked a number of times in the last quarter, the high number expectations further emphasize the drastic shift to Mobile Shopping to be seen in the coming year.
If the number of mobile shoppers is set to double as eBay predicts evidently this should lead to more people shopping exclusively with their mobile phone, naturally NFC payment should follow closely behind? We’d like to think so.
The company’s insightful strategy has already incorporated thought into the often dreaded part of paying by mobile phone; the tedious entering of credit card details. PayPal announcing two days ago they have acquired the start-up Card.io. Card.io specializes in credit card picture scanning; at just 15 cents a scan PayPal users will have the option of taking a picture of their card and license as supplement for entering credit card detail.
The consciousness of consumer opinion and user experience re-enforces the importance that Mobile Shopping and Payment remain effortless for users; with distinct & visible benefits, to lead to change in purchasing behavior.
On another note, as the shift to Mobile Shopping picks up traction it is important to look at leveraging the possibilities, instead of exploiting them. Recently published on Marketing Week by Michael Barnett an article highlighted exactly what Mobile Shopping should not be; license to spam customers with unwanted information. Barnett used the example of an unappreciated marketing campaign received from an Airline provider; pushing notifications asking participation in a government lobbying campaign.
Mobile Shopping may “provide valuable marketing data, but that value is unlikely to be realized if the business can’t use the program to engage emotionally with customers.” (Michael Barnett for Marketing Weekly)
The opportunity with data produced by Mobile Shopping, should lead to customer insight and a means of better relationships with shoppers by offering relevant rewards, couponing and marketing campaigns.
Flexibility a key for mobile payment growth
Jun 22nd
Source: MODO News
“The future for NFC (Near Field Communication) looks very bright. Analysts have predicted that by 2015, one in two mobile phones will be NFC-enabled and that NFC will facilitate transactions worth $74 billion.” (Chung, MoDo News)
Yet, a question that still seems to be cycling around the NFC grid is all of the possible reasons why NFC success is being held back. The possible reasoning for road blocks seems to be somewhat circular; phones are not equipped with NFC technology, retailers are not equipped with NFC ready POS equipment and the question remains of how consumers really feel about the service.
Yet, in the last few weeks more mobile operators have announced NFC ready devices and plans for Wallet systems. Just a few days ago Microsoft announcing their Window’s 8 Phone to be equipped with NFC technology, along with the Microsoft Wallet as part of a strategy for outstanding the competition.
While we anxiously await a wider spread deployment of NFC ready retailers and devices, it is interesting to consider how those in the mobile payments industry can influence and encourage consumer support of the technology. Hwan Chung, CEO at Danal Europe has some interesting thoughts.
Acknowledging that most people do not have handsets capable of contactless payments, and that the stores that accept NFC payments are few and far between, Chung positively comments that there are some operators that are starting to make notable leaps advancing the industry as a whole.
“We’re starting to see mobile operators like O2 in the UK, and Rogers Communications in Canada, announce plans to enable NFC payments. This is backed up by payment providers like Visa and PayPal, who are also getting in on the act.” (Chung)
Chung emphasizes that whilst this is great, it is important that consumer flexibility be strongly considered because customers will want to take the reins in terms of deciding how they pay for purchases.
“Little has been done to provide customers with the flexibility that they want to make payments – and that’s the main issue holding back the industry, not concerns about security or service availability.” (Chung)
Within the mobile payment industry it is important that there is a certain level of understanding that consumers do not want to be ordered to do things a certain way and the early stages of the mobile payment industry should focus more on offering new purchasing channels (with encouragement to try them of course) and then letting the consumer decide.
“If operators and payment providers continue to dictate how mobile payments are made, NFC will remain on the starting blocks.” (Chung)
Read more from MoDo News
Read more about the Microsoft Windows 8 Phone
Samsung prepares for NFC with Samsung Galaxy III, Google Wallet being rethought
May 29th
The shortcomings of the Google Wallet have been a recent discussion topic of bloggers and other publications and according to Bloomberg, Google is now reconsidering its Wallet strategy. 
The adoption of the Google Wallet system has been less than expected and now Google may be considering using an incentive to entice carriers to adopt the Google Wallet. This strategy could even include perks such as the sharing of Google Wallets revenue’s with telecom providers in the hopes of increasing the implementation of the service. (Engadget)
According to Bloomberg, Google is also considering moving towards the adoption of in store terminals, a feature of NFC payments that other E-Wallet providers have been working on since the get go.
But, while Google considers its strategy of approach for NFC payments, more cell phone manufacturers such as electronic giant Samsung are making the preparations for NFC payment technology with their own systems in mind. Samsung recently confirmed that the next flagship phone, the Galaxy S III will contain an embedded chip to support NFC payments.
The features of the Galaxy S III include; enhanced security features and both proximity and online payment systems, which could all be part of Samsung’s own Wallet strategy.
The system would likely support the already established NFC payment systems such as Visa’s V.me and the MasterCard PayPass, according to NFC Times.
Although the Galaxy III will contain an NFC chip, whether the embedded chip will be activated or not is still in question. In markets such as the US, the telecom providers may have the final say as to whether or not the feature will be enabled for use.
Samsung’s progress raises the discussion of whether other mobile manufacturers will adopt their own Wallet systems for NFC payments, perhaps in a way that can be better integrated with other existing NFC payment technology.
Read the Full Press Release from Samsung about the features of the Samsung Galaxy S III.
Read more about Bloombergs comments on the Google Wallet
MasterCard is leading the way in credit card companies that support the PayPass application.
May 7th
MasterCard is leading the way for credit card companies that support the PayPass application. Currently, several more Smartphones have been certified for use with the MasterCard PayPass technology. In total 17 Smartphones have been approved for this technological development. Some of the phones have knowingly had the Near Field Communications (NFC) technology such as the LG Viper 4G LTE and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus HSPA+, however new additions to the list of approved Smartphones include; BlackBerry Bold 9900 / 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9360 / 9380.
“In the near future, millions of phones will ship with NFC technology embedded within them. The new PayPass Ready identifier will help consumers make informed device purchasing decisions by providing a visual mark that indicates devices are certified to make simple, smart and secure payments via the MasterCard PayPass network,” said Mung Ki Woo, group executive, Mobile at MasterCard.
Near field communication’s technology will allow customers to make secure, contactless payments at certified merchants around the world.
Read the full MasterCard press release for all of the details as well as the full list of Smartphones enabled for this technology.
Read more about the benefits of the MasterCard Pay Pass