RFID-Powered Connected Fitting Room at MWC 2014

Accenture and Avenade displayed a well-designed Connected Fitting Room experience at Mobile World Congress that Kohl’s is currently piloting in the US.  Clothes are outfitted with RFID tags and when you enter the fitting room, a touch screen automatically displays the items you bring inside.  If a size is too small, simply request an alternate size on the screen and a sales associate brings you the new garment.

In efforts to upsell, the system will also show you related clothes you’re likely to want based on what you already are trying on. The interface allows you to swipe through options to pick out the winners.

The platform’s back end includes a dashboard that shows retailers which sales associates are helping customers most and driving the most incremental sales.  The system also gives retailers quantifiable insight into what customers are trying on– a helpful data point that currently isn’t collected at many clothing outlets.

Results of the Kohl’s pilot have yet to be released and the Accenture / Avenade team was quick to point out that this a very different consumer experience that can take people some getting used to.

Docomo Brings Terminator-Style Vision To MWC 2014

Docomo, one of several companies jumping on the smart glasses bandwagon, is a testament to the potential of wearable computing but also the difficulty in perfecting it for eye-wear.  Its Mobile World Congress demo is a prototype with no street date set, and it illustrates that while no one has caught up to Google glass yet, there’s a wave of smaller companies with great ideas exploring what’s possible. This concept demo caught the attention of a few blog recently, and I was excited to give it a test spin.

Docomo’s “vision” for the future has a tinge of Terminator to it– with an opt-in twist and less violence.  They integrate facial recognition into the glasses so that when you look at someone the screen tells you who they are, and where and when you saw them last (something that could come in handy for people like me who aren’t great with names and faces). Their pitch is that in the future people will opt into a social network optimized for smart glasses, which accesses our photos and personal info to connect us with other people. It would take time to get there, but the premise seems reasonable.

The company, based in Tokyo, also has an impressive language translation demo where you look at a menu written in Japanese and it automatically overlays English translations next to each menu item. It’s a feature I’d happily use at the Barcelono restaurant where I’m writing this blog.

The snag in all of this is that while the technology technically works, the user experience is strained and uncomfortable on every level. The text is incredibly small, you’re constantly fidgeting to get the screen in a comfortable place, and the resolution is lackluster. That said Docomo gets major points for imagination, and with the right execution their vision for wearable computing may become reality in the years to come.

BLE vs NFC: A Snapshot Comparison

Read original story on Mobile Payments Today.

NFC and BLE have been hot-button technologies for marketers, allowing proximity based communications that stand to revolutionize shopper marketing. Technologically speaking, there are some key differentiators that should be accounted for.  Primarily, NFC offers more active communications that require tapping a physical tag with your phone while BLE is more passive, pushing notifications and action to your phone when you are in range. Speaking of range, NFC is also far more precise–about 4cm from a tag–while BLE engagements can range from 1-50 ft. Download the full breakdown below to learn about the differences and how these technologies can power everything from mobile payments to coupons and offers.

BLE vs NFC Infographic

 

Aereo Will Go To Supreme Court

Read the original story on Ars Technica

Aereo, the Internet-based TV streaming company, will take its controversial service all the way to the Supreme Court. Aereo’s business model works by renting tiny antenna’s to users, which pick up over-the-air TV signals in HD and transmit them to any device on which the user has installed Aereo. Aereo’s software then records the shows, allowing you to DVR and stream your shows from anywhere. The problem is that judges have continuously ruled that Aereo is in violation of the 1976 copyright act, which prescribes the types of transmissions that companies must pay license fees on; Aereo thinks that they are not required to pay these fees, however, because of the use of the word “transmission” in the act. The legal back-and-forth means that Aereo has been temporarily suspended in both Denver and Salt Lake City, which fall under the current rulings’ jurisdiction. Because Aereo has appealed, the case will continue up the ladder to the Supreme Court. It’s an interesting case to keep an eye on, particularly because it has vast implications for Cord Cutters and alternative forms of Internet-based TV.

Airbnb Nails Sochi Realtime Marketing

Real-time marketing is often hit or miss; Oreo was successful at hitting the nail on the head last Super Bowl, but since then many have tried and, in some cases, embarrassingly failed. Airbnb has another success story in this Olympic news cycle, after tweeting at reporters who were complaining about their accommodations at Sochi. Utilizing the now-trending #SochiProblems hashtag, they referred struggling reporters to their listings, complete with embedded pictures and enticing descriptions. The campaign has taken off, and it’s now progressed to brazenly replying to reporters who are tweeting their problems. It’s taking a problem and offering a creative, witty solution, and that type of work always sticks.

Rakuten Purchases Viber For $900 Million

The Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten announced that it will be purchasing Viber Media Inc, the company behind the free messaging app called Viber, for $900 Million in cash, according to Reuters. The deal, which will be competed by the end of March, will see the the multi-platform app continue its service to its 200 million users, who use it to send messages, emojis, and even call each other for free, a la Skype. Rakuten has also purchased other services over the past few years, building a formidable platform on which to continue to build out a diverse media platform. It also highlights the value of messaging, which has continued to blossom over the past few years.

 

YouTube Search Results Promote Playlists

In a move designed specifically to combat services like Spotify, Rdio, and other music streaming services, Google is tweaking YouTube’s search feature to promote playlists and other forms of continuously streaming music. If you now search for a recognized artist, the right hand side of the page will show a list of the artists’ most popular tracks, but on top is a thumbnail that will cue a custom playlist where you can listen to the most popular songs back to back. Google’s utilizing all of its videos, even videos uploaded by fans, to create the most robust playlist possible. One of the more popular features – YouTube’s discovery tab – will still be available, but will also start playlists upon clicking through. This new feature seems like more of a stopgap while Google develops its own streaming-focused music service, but it’s an effective use of resources already available to them; one can imagine many different ways for brands to get involved, such as sponsored playlists. Whether Google waits until it develops its own service to get brands involved, however, remains to be seen.

 

Square Cash Now Includes Requesting Funds

Square Cash, along with Venmo and other proprietary banking apps, have worked hard to make sending and receiving funds from friends and others fairly simple. Now, if Square Cash is your app of choice, you can cc [email protected] in an email to request money from one or more friends. The recipients will be prompted with a “Send Cash” page, and if you’ve requested money from multiple people there is a new page on Square that will let you see who has paid you. Though services like Venmo have been dominating the casual mobile payments space between friends, Square’s partnerships mean that they will be more deeply engrained within people’s lives, and thereafter, at least ideally, their wallets.

6 Billion New Devices To Connect In 2014

According to a new study by research firm IHS, 6.18 billion new connected devices will emerge in the next year, with an additional 19.42 billion to come between 2015 and 2017. Phones, tablets, and computers will make up the bulk of the additions, while video game consoles and televisions will start to tail off. The growing numbers mean that broadband providers will have to negotiate increased demand globally – in light of mergers like TWC and Comcast, these data are worrying for cynics who believe that cable companies won’t be able to handle the onslaught. But it does mean that the transition into mobile and digital spaces is only going to continue, and advertisers on a global scale will need to keep pace.

Two-Thirds Of Americans Own Smartphones

According to Nielsen, America is officially a smartphone nation. Their Digital Consumer Report states that 65% of all Americans owned a smartphone in 2013, a big step up from 44% in 2011. Indeed, smartphones are now more common than gaming consoles and digital cable, which clock in at 46% and 54%, respectively. What’s more, the average American has four devices, and 29% of them have tablets, up from just 5% two years ago. This shift has broad implications for how Americans are spending their time; they spent 34 hours per month on mobile apps and browsers, as opposed to 27 hours on computers. As expected, mobile social networking is blossoming whilst PC-based social networking is on the decline. So although smartphones aren’t as widespread as TV’s at this point, they’re certainly trending that way, and are a mainstay in public consciousness.