We carry our mobile phones with us everywhere; they have become synonymous to communicating presence and identity. It is within this realisation that an opportunity exists for deeper integration of mobile devices into things like payments, consumer-product-interaction, customer service, etc. The most supportive technology in this regard is Near Field Communication (NFC). There are plenty of reasons to doubt the prospects of an NFC uptake in the short term, as sustainable business models are still in the very nascent stages. In the long run though, there are definite arguments that could be made for NFC to become deeply integrated as a multi-touch point technology.
Author » Zunaid Parker
Zunaid Parker
Industry Analyst
My Role at SWAT is to provide research discovery and insight into all things technology and web related. My role is designed to support the CTO and business units on matters affecting the business as a whole.
What’s delaying TV convergence? Benefits of convergence to users, and how marketers will leverage the change in consumption?
As it has been heralded so many times before, we know that the internet has become the engine of change; it has been both revolutionary and disruptive. So it begs the question: is the internet (now finally) in a position where there is truly the potential for it to disrupt the TV industry?
Why the push for convergence? According to Eric Schmidt (in his recent MacTaggart presentation ), it’s because the internet can offer something TV cannot do: “It makes TV more personal, more participative (and) more pertinent”.
16 Oct 2011
The O’Reilly Web2.0 conference started off slowly with the 1st day of the conference falling on Columbus Day (a federal holiday in the US). I opted to attend one of the offered workshops of the day: Information design in an Instrumented World. The take out for me as a caffeine deprived individual: in a world where there is a data explosion (through active and passive data sources), a designer needs to consciously know what and for whom they are designing, and at all-time make sure that there is a clear mandate from the ‘client’. Importantly, make sure there is an understanding as to what they want and why they want it. Also, watch out for ‘API vomit’:), as with so many data points available, it is crucial to remember to seek those that best addresses the mandate rather than looking to accommodate all of them.
Day 2 (and beyond) presented itself with a Schmorgasboard of presentations, which at times appeared to be a bit pitchy. The thread that I drifted to mostly was payments. These were dominated by Visa (diamond sponsor of the conference). It interesting to note that there was sort of an acknowledgment of the fact that payments is all still very experimental and that everyone is looking to be the most relevant.
26 May 2011
MIT’s Technology Review recently published an article stating that speculation has driven the value of a Bitcoin (a digital currency) to jump 4 times, over a period of just three weeks. I attribute this in part to an increase in awareness around the virtual currency over the last 4 weeks (mostly due to the increase in Bitcoin features in online publications). This post therefore looks to examine the hype around this cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin is an alternative currency concept which proposes a system for tradeable monetary-like transactions in a peer-to-peer network. Its usability is much like virtual currencies used in online games where users trade virtual currency for goods or fiat currencies (currency that a government has declared legal tender).
At present, domain addresses are defined by 21 generic top level domains (gTLDs) i.e. .com and .net and approximately 250 country code Top Level Domain (ccTLDs) such as co.za, .de and .jp. Domains since the advent of the web and e-commerce have always been contested items, with huge sums paid to secure relevant domain titles.
As from mid-2011, this is set to become more competitive and contested as ICANN, the Internet body entrusted with overseeing the naming aspects of the web, opens registration for new generic level domains (gTLD’s). This will enable individuals and organisations to propose and apply for gTLDs associated with particular interests or sectors. The intention behind registering a generic domain name is to assist organisations enhance branding, revenue, security and top level domain user interaction.
This year’s Mobile World Congress brought welcoming news surrounding the Near Field Communications (NFC) space, as both Google and Blackberry endorsed NFC. In absentia, unconfirmed reports suggested that the Apple Iphone 5 too, would adopt and support NFC. However sources (UK mobile carriers) now indicate that the Iphone 5 will not include NFC, as there is no clear NFC industry standard.
18 Mar 2011
Ecommerce has gone social – collective buying sites are able to integrate tools that allow users to easily share deals, make recommendations and plan activities with friends on social networking sites or email. By leveraging the viral communication ability of the web; collective buying is able to provide dynamic extensions to both ecommerce and online advertising business-models.
With the potential of collective buying models recognised; an influx of new entrants offering group buying services has entered the market. With so many entrants into the market at such a short period of time, the question that needs to be asked: just how sustainable are these start-ups?
03 Jan 2011
Happy New Year from the MIH SWAT team! To kick off 2011, Zuniad has compiled 11 tech predictions for the year ahead – let us know if you agree….
1) Group Buying
Group buying becomes wholly entrenched worldwide as modus operandi for online shoppers is first to find good deals. 2011 will see expansion of the concept with customisation for businesses, personalisation for consumers and group buying verticals. However, due to low barriers for entry, group buying could become more decentralised as online retailers look to harness the potential of group buying (e.g. October 2010: Wal-Mart used Facebook to run their own group buying offer, which got the 5,000 ‘likes’ needed to make the deal happen within 24 hours).
Advancements in technology nearly always results in the development of new industries, but equally so, it also results in existing industries becoming preys of innovation.
It is estimated that worldwide smartphone sales are to total 4.5bn units throughout 2010 to 2015, so it is a common thought that most cell phone users will eventually own a smartphone (soon to be 4G compatible).
