Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly – October 12, 2010

Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile retailing applications, mobile payments and mobile marketing applications that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

********

A reported 81 percent of young consumers around the world are "interested" or "very interested" in employing wireless handsets as a "wallet" linked to bank accounts and loyalty cards.

http://www.warc.com/News/TopNews.asp?ID=27323

********

The location-based services market is forecast to reach $21 billion by 2015 and will total 1.24 billion subscribers.

http://www.companiesandmarkets.com/news/gps-to-drive-21-billion-location-based-services-market-n158.aspx

********

Consumers are turning to mobile handsets to purchase everything from gift vouchers to flat-screen TVs, and retailers around the world are struggling to keep up with the pace of change.

http://adage.com/globalnews/article?article_id=146362

********

Twenty-nine percent of U.S. adults shopping online for Halloween are using their mobile phones, looking for everything from candy to costumes for the upcoming Halloween holiday.

http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/10/06/halloween-shoppers-show-no-fear-m-commerce

********

A bubble similar to the dot-com mania of the late 1990s is inflating in the mobile payments industry in South Africa, and many of companies are going to be hurt when it bursts.

http://www.techcentral.co.za/m-commerce-gold-rush-doesnt-stack-up/17848/

********

Pure-play etailers such as Play.com and Amazon are outperforming their high street rivals when it comes to implementing mobile commerce, boasting superior design and functionality.

http://www.internetretailing.net/2010/10/pure-play-retailers-are-leading-the-way-in-mobile-commerce-but-many-e-tailers-are-hiking-prices-for-mobile/

********

Walmart.com has designed a mobile commerce home page that is what mobile design experts call “light”—only a few small graphic elements, emphasis on text in category listings, a site search box.

http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/10/06/walmartcom-dressed-success-mobile-performance

********

PayPal has just unveiled a new feature to its free iPhone app that allows customers to make a deposit by simply taking a photo of a check.

http://www.technewsdaily.com/paypal-photo-check-deposit-iphone-application-1414/

********

A strategic mobile partner can unleash the knowledge that your firm has gained about your customers, their purchase habits, shopping preferences, demo and psychographics, to optimize the ROI of your mobile offering.

http://smartsoftmobile.com/wordpress/2010/10/12/best-practices-how-should-a-retailer-select-a-strategic-mobile-partner/

********

CIOs and IT experts should expect (and prepare for) a shift toward a massively mobile future by 2015.

http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=774&doc_id=198206&f_src=internetevolution_gnews

********

Sales Simplicity Software, a sales automation, CRM and e-marketing application for the builder, developer and senior living industries, discovered an untapped need among its customers when it rolled out the first mobile version of its application about a year ago.

http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/Mobile-App-Helps-Home-Builders-Close-Weekend-Deals-70940.html?wlc=1286738726

********

ProSent Mobile, a leading provider of next generation mobile interactive platforms, has teamed up with Dole Food to promote food and nutrition issues via Facebook and Twitter.

http://web-self-service.tmcnet.com/topics/mobile-answers/articles/107433-dole-prosent-mobile-bring-facebook-twitter-recipes-mobile.htm

********

U.S. Bank and Monitise Americas have launched AccelaPay mobile banking, giving U.S. Bank AccelaPay Visa cardholders convenient, free access to their accounts anywhere and anytime using their mobile phone.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-bank-and-monitise-americas-introduce-free-mobile-banking-service-for-prepaid-cardholders-2010-10-05?reflink=MW_news_stmp

********

Smartsoft Mobile empowers some of the world’s largest multi-national organizations to extend and improve business processes by providing mobile solutions to their employees and customers. Smartsoft has more than 700 experienced ERP/mobile consultants with over 5,000 man years of experience helping 400,000 plus mobile users achieve their business goals with powerful mobile B2B and B2C applications, designed and developed specifically for today’s popular consumer and industrial grade mobile devices. For more information please visit, http://www.smartsoftmobile.com/.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Smartsoft Mobile Solutions.

********

Cardmobili, the leading provider of mobile loyalty and member services and recent winner of the Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010 award, will fully support Windows Phone 7 devices, upon immediate launch date of Windows Phone 7.

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/08/2291722/cardmobili-to-deliver-the-first.html

********

Bank of America is not unique in embracing mobile banking, nor are they necessarily the most advanced technologically. They are, however, moving full speed ahead with the latest in banking trends, and the trends are rapidly moving in the direction of increased access and freedom for customers.

http://www.creditloan.com/blog/2010/10/07/bank-of-america-is-charging-ahead-with-mobile-banking/

********

Mobile banking is expected to grow exponentially over the next 12 months, as the world's adoption of smartphones increases.

http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/articles.php?art_id=2979

********

Location-based services are the hottest segment in social media. These applications are changing the way people experience everyday activities like shopping, eating, traveling, watching a movie or taking a picture.

http://www.headlightblog.com/2010/10/location-based-services-the-hottest-segment-in-social-media/

********

Smartsoft Mobile Solutions is developing enterprise applications on the new Windows Phone 7 platform. Smartsoft is not taking a wait and see approach, but building applications on this new platform, giving customers as many platform choices as they desire.

http://smartsoftmobile.com/wordpress/2010/10/11/smartsoft-mobile%e2%80%99s-demo-of-enterprise-applications-on-windows-phone-7/

********

With the release of the new iPhone from Apple earlier this year and the ability of its operating system to more effectively run background apps and services, there are a host of possibilities for new location-based services.

http://www.directionsmag.com/articles/the-case-for-predefined-geofences/135948

********

A new study by mobile ad network Millennial Media and comScore suggests that a small segment of mobile consumers prefer to shop via mobile phone rather than other ways.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=136325

Recent articles by Kevin Benedict

What Are Machines Talking About
Watch SAP CIO Oliver Bussman Interview at TechEd 2010
New Trend – Carry More Mobile Devices Til You Can’t Walk No More
SAP Mobility Roadmap in Their Own Words
SAP’s Puneet Suppal and Kevin Benedict at TechEd Las Vegas
Different Mobile Applications GUI Designs – Mobile Epiphany

********

Archived editions of Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly are available at http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/mobile-retail-news-weekly.html

You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict and read my blog, Enterprise Mobility Strategies for SAP and Others.

Also available are Kevin’s M2M News Weekly and Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly.

********

I have added a feature to my blog site that supports email subscriptions. You can now receive all blog articles directly via email. If you are interested, click here.

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.