The living room PC is here: the iPad — Apple News, Tips and Reviews. Amex Invests $100 Million In Its Future: Digital Ecosystem, Not The Plastic Card. In its press release today American Express revealed explicitly that its new $100 million Digital Commerce Investment Initiative was destined to fund "early stage startups to facilitate the company's digital transformation. " If that sounds like a firm that's aware it's got to rapidly pivot, that's because that's exactly what's going on. Amex's Dan Schulman, Group President Enterprise Growth, spoke to Fast Company to explain the move: As far as saying that the credit card is going to evolve, Schulman noted, "It goes even further than that. Our view of the world is that all of commerce is being redefined as the world moves somewhat rapidly into the advent of smartphones and mobile payments and the digitization of information across the entire commerce lifecycle.
" To that end Amex will be trying to identify young, emerging technology companies that can help it innovate its business model and then will invest in them--a trick the company has previously tried with Payfone. 5 points to consider for taking your app global. Global reach: a concept essentially unheard of for entrepreneurs before the digital age. Today, not only is global reach a reality, it is the only realistic way to maximize revenue. And there is no hotter digital commodity that smartphone apps which are growing in demand, on a global scale, at the same pace as smartphones. This is a historic moment for any developer to truly go global with their product.
App downloads are soaring across the globe and consumers have unprecedented access to information at their fingertips. For example, the Apple App Store now hosts 500,000 apps, across over 40 languages, with tens of thousands of unique developer teams. Whether it’s a young boy downloading a casual game in China or an avid runner looking for a pedometer application in Germany, today’s mobile technologies, spearheaded by Apple, are available internationally, and mobile app developers have the potential to reach foreign markets with ease. Below are five points to consider when going global:
Meaningful Brands Infographic : Havas Media. Facebook Brand Exec: RIP Traditional Marketing. When Facebook's brand experience manager Paul Adams took the stage today at the Geo Loco conference, he outlined one of the most-hyped scenarios for local advertising. Imagine walking down the street, he said, and every time you get close to a store, they can push an offer or marketing message onto your phone. "It's a really stupid idea," Adams said. So why are businesses and marketers enamored with it? Adams said it's because they aren't thinking from "a people perspetive.
" Of course businesses like to push advertising to potential customers who are nearby. But if you're the customer in question, you'd quickly become inundated with marketing messages. It's part of the broader theme that Day outlined during his talk, where he said advertising is going to change dramatically. "All this massive information is going to be filtered through your friends," Adams said. During the question-and-answer session, someone in the audience wondered whether Adams' assertions always hold up. YouTube Tees Up Big Talent. The Rise of the Connected Customer and the New Era of Relevance Brian Solis.
InShare231 It’s not a widely kept secret, but customers do indeed keep companies in business. While businesses have long invested in improving customer relationships, the time has come to think beyond efficiencies and automation and examine new opportunities to rethink customer experiences overall. Why? Customers are more connected than ever before.
The role they play has exploded beyond transactions and is now influencing the transactions of others as well as contributing to the brand experience at levels never before seen. It’s said that your brand is defined by what your customers and employees say when you’re not in the room. My good friend Becky Carroll just published her new book and I was honored to write the foreword. Good customer service used to be one of the secrets to business success. This is the perspective you need as you look to your customers today to grow your business tomorrow. Great—not just good—customer service is necessary for business survival. Care. Mobile Trends - June 2011 - Trending The Future. Mobile Trends 2020. Next Generation Media Quarterly October 2011. How the Millennial Generation Uses Mobile.
Millennials — that is, American consumers between ages 18 and 34 — are a mobile generation. That much is clear from the infographic below. According to data collected by location-based ad network JiWire, Millennials own an average of 2.4 Internet-connected devices. Of those who connect to JiWire's free Wi-Fi networks, 62% percent are using smartphones and nearly a third are using tablets. Twenty-eight percent use location-based apps multiple times per day for locating stores (54%) and points of interests (46%), as well as connecting with others (40%) and checking in (32%). Surprisingly, there is one area where older generations are more active on mobile. How do these findings align with your own mobile behavior? Our Digital Society in the Next 30 Years: An Interview with John Battelle Brian Solis. There’s Something Happening Here.
iPhone 4S: The S Is for Sold Out - John Paczkowski - Mobile. $4.7 Billion in Digital Goods Will Pass Through PayPal This Year. eBay says that its PayPal division expects to hit $4.7 billion in total payment volume (TPV) of digital goods in 2011. The projection, announced at eBay's X.commerce Innovate developers conference, would be a significant increase in transactions for digital goods — up 28% from 2010, when digital goods accounted for a TPV of $3.4 billion. PayPal defines digital goods as the "direct or indirect payment of any digital asset.
" This includes virtual goods, digital music, news, media, online video and virtual currencies like Facebook Credits. "The big message is our belief that there's a lot of opportunity in digital goods," PayPal's Senior Director of Emerging Opportunities Carey Kolaja told Mashable. The company also announced that it is teaming up with Microsoft to bring in-console payments to the Xbox 360 before the end of the year.
PayPal is working with publishers, such as The Wall Street Journal, on figuring out how best to monetize their content on the web. Apple's Siri Is as Revolutionary as the Mac - James Allworth. Internet of things will have 24 billion devices by 2020 — Cloud Computing News.