JiWire, Mobile Check-In and Mobile Retailing Applications

I was a guest speaker at the CIO Council 2010 sponsored by Panorama Capital in Las Vegas last week.  I was able to spend a couple of days with a number of high tech entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and a leading edge group of industry CIOs.  The main focus of the conference this year was enterprise mobility.

One of the most interesting discussion tracks at the conference was the increasing role that WiFi may have as MNOs (mobile network operators) increasingly have bandwidth problems.  There are more companies looking to add hotspots, expand coverage and other related services.  One of these companies is JiWire.

What Do Customers Want from a Mobile Retailing Application?

I came across a interesting report today about mobile retail applications.  This report came from the EDI/B2B company, Sterling Commerce.  You may not expect an EDI/B2B company to be conducting research on mobility, but they provide web portals and other solutions that are now accessed by mobile devices.  As a result, it makes sense to conduct research on why customers are accessing portals on mobile devices.

The Sterling Commerce report indicates that product availability is becoming a necessity for impatient shoppers. Nearly two thirds (66 percent) of consumers surveyed considered it important to very important to be able to conveniently determine in-stock availability before visiting a store.  It was significantly more popular than store locators and even the ability to read product reviews while in the store.