CRM News: M-Commerce

CTIA Wireless 2012: A Show of a Different Color
April 26, 2012

Would it surprise you if I said the upcoming CTIA Wireless 2012 show will be very different from those in the past? I've been going to these wireless shows for more years than I can remember. Every few years, the show -- and in fact the entire industry -- changes. This is a great showplace for what is new and what is coming next in the wireless industry -- and next month's show should be no exception.

Tech Leaders See Smartphones Replacing Credit Cards, Cash
April 18, 2012

By 2020, the majority of U.S. consumers will use smartphones to pay for goods and services, concluded a new study from Pew and Elon University. The survey is unusual in that it queried tech stakeholders and leaders about the subject, as opposed to a random sample of the general population. Executives from such companies as Microsoft and Google were included in the mix, as well as professors and other thought leaders.

Sage Launches Mobile Payments Portal
April 13, 2012

Sage is getting ready to enhance its mobile payments offerings. Next month, the company will roll out Sage Exchange.com, an interface for Sage Exchange, which it introduced two years ago. The rollout of Sage Exchange.com will considerably enhance what Sage Exchange offers customers, said Greg Hammermaster, president of Sage Payment Solutions.

Will a Different Yahoo Be Good Enough?
April 11, 2012

When he announced plans to lay off 2,000 employees, Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson said it was a necessary step in the company's strategic plan to move forward. Critics noted, however, that he had not explained exactly what that plan was. Now, via an internal memo made public, Thompson has obliged. Beginning May 1, the company will be divided into three core divisions: Consumer, Regions and Technology.

Facebook Has Big Plans for Its Billion-Dollar Baby
April 10, 2012

Facebook has snagged the highly popular photo-sharing application Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock. It is among the biggest acquisitions in the social media space, second only to Google's $1.65 billion stock-for-stock purchase of YouTube in 2006. The deal, both in size and intent, is very much a departure for Facebook.

Catching the Mobile Commerce Wave
April 07, 2012

Riding the wave of technology change these days is a bit like surfing. The ocean and waves often change much faster than our ability to stay out in front of the transformation. Now another current is approaching the wireless world as mobile commerce curls to challenge conventional e-commerce.

Amazon Ratchets Up Its M-Commerce Cred
April 04, 2012

Amazon is testing a service that will let tablet users purchase items through mobile applications. It is expected to enhance the Kindle Fire tablet's de facto role as a shopping conduit for its users. It already is second nature for users to download books and movies from Amazon's content library. With an in-app purchase mechanism, items can be bought via downloadable software.

Small Screen Gets a Lot of Video Action
April 03, 2012

It finally has happened -- the number of U.S. mobile subscribers who own smartphones is just about equal to the number who own feature phones, according to new data. As of Feb. 2012, 49.7 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers carried a smartphone -- an increase of 38 percent from Feb. 2011, when only 36 percent of mobile subscribers owned smartphones. The driver behind this trend was the lopsided adoption of smartphones by mobile phone buyers in recent months.

PayPal Hits the Pavement With Mobile Payment System
March 16, 2012

PayPal has introduced PayPal Here, a mobile payment product that is meant to continue its push into retailing's brick-and-mortar world, no matter the size of the retailer. The global mobile payment system will allow small businesses to accept almost any form of payment, PayPal said. Businesses can accept payments by swiping cards with a fully encrypted thumb-sized card reader.

Sites Have More Mobile Shopper Mojo Than Apps
March 12, 2012

Although it seems there is an app for everything nowadays, new research indicates mobile shopping is one area in which consumers prefer retailers' websites over dedicated smartphone apps. Although the recent Nielsen report found users generally spend more time with mobile apps rather than sites, the process can turn off some consumers, according to John Burbank, president of strategic initiatives at Nielsen.

2011's Lessons for Holiday Retail 2012
March 10, 2012

OK, it's time to officially close the book on the 2011 holiday retail season and to shift our attention forward to 2012. For me personally, what makes it difficult to stop looking back are the new trends that emerged that will forever change holiday shopping: The empowered customer turned to multiple mobile devices to conduct mobile shopping; and social media sites such as Facebook proved they have an influence on consumer buying.

Facebook Gives Marketers a New Set of Tools
March 01, 2012

Facebook introduced a slew of new ad initiatives at its marketing conference, fMC, held in New York on Wednesday. Most had been leaked to industry publications prior to this first-ever event. However, few had been expecting the preview of a distribution channel called the "Reach Generator." Although key details about how it will work were missing from the presentation, it clearly represents a new avenue for marketers.

Twitter Flitters Further Into Mobile Advertising
February 29, 2012

Twitter launched an expansion of its mobile advertising system Tuesday, putting promoted tweets into the timelines of users accessing the service from mobile applications. Users accessing Twitter from iPhone and Android apps have been able to search out promoted trends and tweets before, and promoted tweets have been appearing in timelines for users accessing the site from a mobile Web browser.

Groupon: Business Is Booming
February 28, 2012

Groupon's push into mobile is firing on all cylinders, to hear the company describe its progress. The daily deal giant posted record mobile performance in North America in Dec. 2011, with one quarter of all Groupon vouchers purchased via a mobile device. Also, both consumer and merchant app usage were up significantly year over year, it said. Groupon mobile app users tripled from last December to more than 9 million.

Google's Armor Shows Some Chinks
January 20, 2012

Google's investments in mobile advertising and dark clouds over Europe contributed to weak quarterly sales and earnings. Share prices fell 10 percent on the news that Google's fourth quarter sales of $8.13 billion fell short of analyst estimates of $8.41 billion. Profit before certain costs was $9.50 per share, which was a dollar shy of the $10.50 estimate on the street.

Groupon, LivingSocial and the Holy Grail of Commerce
December 16, 2011

The market for local commerce has been the holy grail for Internet companies since the dawn of the modem. However, that market has been more like "Monty Python And The Holy Grail." Until now. The missing link for local commerce hasn't been the Web, it's been four things: web usage as everyday "utility"; the growth of mobile; the inefficiency of "old-fashioned" advertising; and time-shifting.

Online Cash Registers in Holiday Overdrive
December 15, 2011

Ask just about any research company that tracks online spending about this holiday season and you will get bombarded with cheer: "good," "strong," "robust," and "surprisingly strong" are among the adjectives used to describe online shopping activity this month and last. The latest indicator is a report on the holiday season-to-date: $24.6 billion has been spent online, for a 15-percent increase over the same period last year.

Google+ Tiptoes Into Facial Recognition Territory
December 12, 2011

Google+Photos is adding facial recognition technology that will let users be tagged automatically in photos. To pre-empt privacy concerns, Google has made the feature opt-in, said Matt Steiner, engineering lead on the Google+ Photos team. For it to work, the user must turn on the new "Find My Face" feature in the Google+ settings.