Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly - November 2, 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.

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The number of financial institutions offering downloadable applications, customized websites and check depositing services for mobile devices is expected to skyrocket in the next year.

http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/175_203/mobile-banking-payments-1027486-1.html

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PayPal has recently announced a slew of news and product releases, including a new micropayments product and an apps platform for businesses.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/31/paypal-beats-google-checkout-to-the-local-payments-market-but-will-it-work-tctv/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

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Facebook, Foursquare, Yelp and Groupon are taking on the local mobile commerce industry.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/30/the-future-of-local-commerce-facebook-foursquare-yelp-groupon/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

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The appeal and convenience of digital, mobile-based coupons is attracting a younger consumer and is expected to grow to 300 million coupon users contributing a whopping 6 billion dollars globally by 2014 in redemptive value.

http://technorati.com/blogging/article/location-based-mobile-brands-on-demand/

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Kevin Nix, presented staggering statistics about the explosive adoption of mobile devices and mobile apps at the 2010 SAP Retail Forum. Three million iPads were sold in eighty days; 1.7 million iPhone 4 devices were sold in three days; and the use of mobile apps is expected to increase to 100 million by 2013.

http://www.retailsolutionsonline.com/article.mvc/Leverage-Mobility-To-Create-Business-0001?VNETCOOKIE=NO

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Just a head of the holiday season, a broad range of companies, from technology savvy e-commerce companies to traditional brick and mortar stores, are scrambling to make it easier for people to browse and purchase items on their mobile devices.

http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/10/seattle-retailers-embrace-mobile.html

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CVS/pharmacy has launched a free iPhone app that offers shoppers on the go tools available on CVS.com, including managing prescriptions, planning shopping trips and scheduling a flu shot.

http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/10/14/cvspharmacy-complements-its-m-commerce-site-new-app

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Thanks to the rapid adoption of smartphones and PayPal's nimble developer community, both consumers and merchants are embracing mobile payments.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/39855564

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As advertisers rush to come to terms with the recent explosion in web-enabled devices and content, it is becoming increasingly clear that now is the ideal time to embrace and understand mobile as an advertising medium.

http://www.sbpost.ie/mediaandmarketing/mobile-phone-ads-start-to-get-seriously-smart-52541.html

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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.

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Toys R Us has taken its Great Big Christmas Book holiday catalog and made it available in a digital version for the iPad, letting children drag items they want to receive into a gift box to create their must have list for family members.

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/toys-r-us-brings-holiday-catalog-to-ipad-to-let-kids-create-digital-wish-lists/

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GeoQpons money saving mobile coupon app empowers consumers to achieve significant discounts at their favorite big brand retailers in fashion, sporting goods and office supplies as well as local restaurants and hardware stores.

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/GeoQpons-Location-Based-Mobile-Coupon-Application-Launches-on-iPhone-and-Android-1343095.htm

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PayPal recently unveiled software that will let customers use their smartphones to make payments, as well as a platform that allows consumers to pay for digital media, music and games more easily.

http://www.mobiledia.com/news/75996.html

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Imagine giving your bank and credit cards the heave-ho in favor of your omnipresent mobile phone - and simply waving it before the cash register to pay for meals, goods and services ultra conveniently.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11627502

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Cardmobili is a free service that holds the most extensive loyalty and membership program database in the world. The service allows users to manage their cards, ensures remote backup, and allows sharing with family and friends and getting exclusive offers from service partners.

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

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App developers have no intention of being left out of the Christmas frenzy. Popular shopping and barcode comparison app ShopSavvy has just announced that the latest version of its application is now available on iTunes.

http://www.gomonews.com/mobile-shopping-goes-social-shopsavvy-gets-ready-for-christmas/

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A recent study indicates mobile commerce’s popularity is most apparent with younger consumers, as older shoppers seem hesitant to learn about and take advantage of the ever growing number of shopping tools available to them with smart phone technology.

http://ecommercejunkie.com/2010/11/01/m-commerce-bringing-in-the-younger-shopping-crowd/

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EBay will soon launch an online group gift buying service designed to make it easier for several people to pitch in, buy and pay for gifts using their social network and e-mail contacts.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2010-11-01-ebay01_ST_N.htm

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Could the barcode, a technology invented 60 years ago, be the next big thing in making mobile phones a powerful shopping tool? Tesco certainly thinks so.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjones/2010/10/mobile_barcodes_and_smarter_sh.html

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A new deal between AT&T and mobile phone payment provider, Boku, is being viewed as a key ‘tipping point’ for the U.S. e-commerce market as smartphones replace credit cards as pay tools for online goods.

http://www.utalkmarketing.com/pages/Article.aspx?ArticleID=19380&Title=Mobile_retail_enters_new_era_challenging_credit_card_payments

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Surveying the Enterprise Mobility Landscape Today and in the Future

Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, Enterprise Mobility Expert and Industry Analyst, announces his new one day workshop for executive and management teams. This workshop is designed for business and IT managers and covers the following topics:

• An overview of enterprise mobility
• High priority mobility projects
• Current enterprise mobility trends
• The Future of Enterprise Mobility
• Best practices enterprise mobility strategies
• The impact enterprise mobility has on the art of management
• Enterprise mobility case studies and ROIs
• Preparing the enterprise for mobility
• Design, Development, Deployment and Support challenges
• Q & A and Discussions

Please contact Kevin Benedict via email or by phone at +1 208-991-4410.

Recent articles by Kevin Benedict

What Do Companies Want From a Mobile Retailing Application?
Microsoft, Enterprise Mobility and Software Development Kits
Facebook and Mobile Retailing Applications
The Power Behind a Mobile Retailing Application

Recent Video Interviews by Kevin Benedict

Mobile Expert Video Series: SAP TechEd Live – SAP CIO Oliver Bussmann
Mobile Expert Video Series: Sybase's Rob Noce
Mobile Expert Video Series: MSC Mobile's Martin Fecteau
Mobile Expert Video Series: Sybase's Sam Lakkundi
Mobile Expert Video Series: PricewaterhouseCoopers' Dr. Ahmend El Adl
Mobile Expert Video Series: Puneet Suppal, SAP PCN
Mobile Expert Video Series: Adobe's Matthias Zeller
Mobile Expert Video Series: SAP's CIO Oliver Bussmann

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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.

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

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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.