Software : Industry Voices: Apple NFC service offers a big bite for businesses

Industry Voices: Apple NFC service offers a big bite for businesses
Industry Voices: Apple Pay: A tipping point in retail?
Sorry Google Voice, but Hangouts just dialed up free voice calls
Twitter to launch Flight, its new mobile dev conference, next month

Industry Voices: Apple NFC service offers a big bite for businesses

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For many businesses, Apple's announcement about its plans to bring near-field communication (NFC) to its iPhone 6 and 6+ is a game changer.

Although other device manufacturers have adopted NFC, Apple has an uncanny ability to fuel widespread adoption of a particular technology and ensure it enters the mainstream. But the capabilities of NFC technology are so much more than just payment.

At present NFC based phone payments are made by just 8% of smartphone users in the US according to eMarketer, so Apple's endorsement of the technology should fuel further adoption.

The service, known as Apple Pay, will launch in the US next month, with developers able to build compatible apps using an API.

For retailers, this development presents especially exciting potential - not only can the 80-plus percent of consumers who use their smartphones while shopping now pay for their purchases with a simple tap through Apple Wallet, saving time at the end of the shopping experience, but there is also future potential to interact more fully with the stores while doing the shopping via the Apple API.

A paradigm shift

If Apple opens NFC beyond payments, retailers will be able to provide an enhanced experience with much greater customer digital participation with store products.

Shoppers will be able to access product photos, reviews, and video by tapping their devices on NFC enabled tags without having to download an app. In turn, retailers will be the recipients of valuable customer intent data from the physical store.

Previously the only way to curate such an experience has been through the use of barcodes and QR codes that customers had to scan, which resulted in little adoption. The reason? Consumers don't want to download and update apps for every store they enter, or to provide personal details to use free Wi-Fi or sign up to an app, all of which create barriers to uptake.

With NFC now a part of the new iPhones, customers will be more open to using the technology through their own personal device without the need for additional downloads.

For the shopper the experience is much more immersive and enjoyable, as well as instant. Furthermore, touching and tapping via NFC is 12 times more engaging than scanning a barcode, according to Harvard Business Review.

It's all about the data

The other key benefit is actionable data for business. By curating an NFC enabled experience where consumers can tap to indicate which products they might be interested in, retailers finally have access to intent data in an offline setting and can target the consumer with offers to encourage them to purchase, similar to the benefits an offline wishlist provides.

Over the next 12 months we'll see personalised location-based experiences taken to market. NFC and beacons, lead by Apple popularisation, will blur the lines of online and offline retail.

A customer will be able to walk into stores, without the commitment of downloading or signing up to experience a more immersive experience, providing data on their own terms.

This will undoubtedly lead to offers and pricing far more personal than today. Where Apple leads, others follow and it is likely that NFC adoption will grow and as a result see payment, big data, location and personalisation converge.

Ollie Bath, Co-Founder and UK Managing Director, CloudTags, a leader in omnichannel experiences launched in 2012. Based in London, the services and technology company increases sales by providing clients with the ability to know more about their customers in-store. It offers omnichannel analytics that tell clients who their customers are prior to checkout, what they browsed and what they are most likely to buy in the future.

Industry Voices: Apple Pay: A tipping point in retail?

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In true form, Apple didn't announce anything wholly original during its keynote. What Apple does best is design it better and deploy it to the market in a way that brings it forward into the public consciousness.

NFC technology isn't new and Apple is late to the table with payments. Google Wallet has been securely storing credit cards, debit cards, loyalty cards and offers for a while and Facebook is also close to acquiring a banking license in Europe .

But so far, NFC technology has failed to take off in the US, and though its popularity scores better in some parts of Asia and Europe, it's about the application, not the tech itself. Apple Pay will force innovation from the financial establishment, encourage fintech innovators, motivate retailers and drive consumer awareness .

The old guard are now paying attention

If we are moving to a society of cashless payments, as we go around our daily lives with a phone or device on us at all times, was this a revolutionary moment? Perhaps not, but it was an important gear-change.

This is a sector in dire need of innovation. Tim Cook's "entirely new payment process" laid bare the vulnerability of magnetic strips printed numbers on credit and debit cards, and there was a sense of mockery at the incumbents reliance on the physical, especially in the US, which is yet to adopt chip and PIN unlike Europe.

If the financial sector may once have sniffed at the idea that Apple could be threat to their businesses, they're certainly paying attention now.

The big banks and payments companies' senior executives were all over yesterday's event, and the biggest US banks are part of the Apple Pay service, representing 83% of total US payment volume. The service may be US-only for now, but Apple will be focused on the global roll-out.

A tipping point in retail

An app store with no apps makes no sense, and it took the iPhone to move the smartphone market towards a de-facto standard that others followed. I expect payments, and Apple Watch, to do the same for NFC.

Apple announced some retail partners – including Macy's and McDonald's – but other major retailers were notable for their absence. Some have already invested in their own mobile payments platforms, such as Walmart and Target in the US, in answer to Google's Wallet. From a practical perspective, there will have to be infrastructure changes with retailers to facilitate changes at purchase point, which just aren't there in the market right now.

But now that Apple is here, consumer awareness will build, retailers will look at integration, and software developers will looking to capitalise in between.

The introduction of Apple Pay shows how emerging technologies, such as developments in mobile payments and the introduction of wearables, will disrupt the financial services market.

Don't underestimate the importance of consumer trust

Trust in financial services companies, banks in particular, is low. People are tired of low value products and poor customer service. They are looking for a better offer from a brand that they trust - and innovative tech brands and have a captive audience.

Millennials are more open to the idea of banking with a company that isn't a bank - they want instant, secure purchasing, with as few interactions as possible. A company like Apple carries with it a level of trust with this generation that expects.

While this presents a challenge, banks should see Apple's foray into the payments space as an opportunity. They need to seize the moment and use Apple Pay as a way of perhaps understanding consumer spending habits, and using this knowledge to better help their customers.

The financial sector can remain relevant, and re-cover lost ground by integrating new technologies to offer services that helps consumer everyday lives.

It will be interesting to see the impact of the iCloud celebrity photo leak scandal, and its impact on trust in Apple's brand.

This is new territory for them, and thus far they've escaped the data furore that has hit Facebook and Google in recent years. Its trust will go so far as its tech remains trustworthy, hence the re-assurances that credit card numbers wouldn't be stored and data wouldn't be passed on to other parties.

Whether the existing banks, fintech innovators, or data companies will win out remains to be seen.

Peter founded The BIO Agency in 2006, a pure-play digital strategic and creative agency focusing on innovation and delivering it. With 100 people it has grown to become one of the UK's most successful independent digital companies.

Sorry Google Voice, but Hangouts just dialed up free voice calls

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Although many prefer to communicate via text messaging, there are still plenty of occasions to use good old-fashioned voice calls. With its latest round of updates, Google is bringing some vocals to Hangouts. a

Google announced the availability of free voice calls from the Hangouts app for Android, iOS and web, which includes the ability to dial up regular phone numbers and other Hangouts users alike.

Although Hangouts has always offered unique methods for sending messages or setting up group chats , outgoing voice calls have remained elusive, primarily the jurisdiction of the Google Voice service.

That all changes with the updates, which also includes competitive rates for outgoing international voice calls as well. Service to mobile phones in France are priced at $0.03 per minute, Mexico $0.05 per minute and India a mere one cent per minute.

Call me maybe

Back in May, Google engineer Nikhyl Singhal confirmed plans to migrate the largely stagnant Google Voice service into Hangouts with outbound calls; incoming voice calls have already been supported from both Hangouts as well as Google Voice.

Today's change finally delivers on that promise, making Hangouts more of a direct threat to competitors such as Microsoft-owned Skype, although Hangouts has yet to completely absorb Google Voice.

Google also updated the existing Google Voice for iPhone app, finally delivering an iOS 7-style user interface, as well as enabling support for Google Voice integration in the Hangouts app.

Google says outgoing voice calls from Hangouts will be available to iOS and web users the next time they open the app, and the feature is rolling out over the next few days to Android users with the latest version 2.3 update.

Super-size your reading with our hands-on review of the iPhone 6 Plus!

Twitter to launch Flight, its new mobile dev conference, next month

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Twitter will be flapping into Flight, its second-ever mobile developer conference, on October 22.

The social media company is welcoming developers from all over to the San Francisco event with the promise of helping them "build the best mobile apps."

Not the smoothest move leading off with an egotistical mission statement like that.

The day's activities will include a keynote by Twitter CEO Dick Costolo. As with most developer conferences, from Apple's WWDC to Facebook F8, we expect to see a smatering of new Twitter features emerge for users.

However, much of the conference will include "technical sessions," where developers will have dense discussions about programming in Java, Objective-C and Swift.

To prime the dev community for the October conference, Twitter has overhauled its developer site, making it easier for users to navigate and find answers. Twitter also noted there would be a lot more features coming to the developer site over the coming weeks.

What the heck are you doing Twitter?

In the last several months Twitter has been in a tumultuous period of change, changing the fundamental way its social network behaves.

In May, Twitter introduced a feature for users to mute an obnoxious tweeter without unfollowing them. Then the company decided to mess with social feeds yet again in August by promoting popular tweets favorited in users' feeds, even if they don't follow the tweeter.

And just last week, Twitter killed its third-party Twitpic image-hosting partner in favor of its own photo sharing service.

It seems high time that Twitter should hold an event of some sort where it can discuss its future plans at length rather than rolling out experiments and tweaks, which taken as a whole, have been universally annoying.

Twitter or Facebook they're practically the same as MySpace

Yahuui Blog

Thursday, September 11, 2014