Month: March 2013

Blog Post: How Can You Connect With Your Customers

There is a lot of gold to be mined in this wrap up of the first day of SES New York, a world-wide network of search and social events to educate marketers. When titans like Google and ESPN show up to share their experiences, you pay attention.

Many companies are already behind the eight ball in terms of connecting with their customers through mobile devices. The industry is still a bit wide open, and many companies are lining up to take your marketing dollars in exchange for ideas. Please don’t lose heart, 2013 is not near the end of the world when it comes to exercising your mobile strategy.

A lot of great companies are ahead of you, there is no denying it. I wish I could have been there when it happened too. If I’m playing catch up, so are many of the so called “experts” in mobile. 

Read through this piece, and continue to search for more information like it. Just have to find it.

Blog Post: How Can You Connect With Your Customers

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Blog Post: Are QR Codes Dead Already?

We are asking this very question at my company this week after I read this article from Ad Age. The author lays out a scenario where mobile users prefer mobile apps to websites, and native apps are already past the need for a QR tag to reference a piece of Internet data. Of course, this brings up the point I have made previously regarding the need for an app in your mobile strategy.

QR Codes were once attached to just about everything — in some forms of media, they still are. Are we really saying this helpful piece of technology is already dead?

This has been an issue I have been investing some time this week. In some industries where mobile apps aren’t a viable part of a strategy, these codes can still help drive customers to pieces of inventory easier.

The rebuttal mentioned is augmented reality, which I think is hilarious  Mobile devices aren’t even close to ready to handle that kind of traffic in large volume. In retail businesses where inventory is moved around the property regularly (clothing, automobiles and grocery stores for example), this is just not logistically possible. 

Invisible ink sounds interesting, although the technology to print it is probably just as behind the curve as augmented-reality tagging. There is already affordable, and sometimes free, software to put QR Codes in business owner’s hands.

Be careful when you read doomsday articles such as this. I love the work being published in Ad Age, and agree with a lot of the points B.L. Ochman offers on QR technology. Maybe she needs to go after her editor for that headline.

Blog Post: Are QR Codes Dead Already?

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Blog Post: A Big Spoonful Of #Mobile Nostalgia

Surely I’m not the only one who scoffs at movies trotting out the same old intellectual property. Instead of giving examples and drawing the ire of fans, let’s just say we all know what I’m talking about. After all, I watched every one of Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies and will be doing the same for the new Man of Steel offering this summer.

In the old days, movie studios would just release a movie and hope people vote with their dollars on what they like. Now, that’s not enough. With every blockbuster, there is merchandising to be printed, video games to code, even tie-in comic books.

The same IPs get translated to new forms of media with the hope of similar popularity.

Today’s article by Venture Beat thinks that approach could save the video game industry. If you are a fan of Mega Man, it just so happens the 25th anniversary of it’s initial launch. Instead of putting the kind of capital into revamping the game for new console systems, why not release to iOS and Android?

Development costs would be down, possible profit could be higher and customers would get a big spoonful of nostalgia.

There are ups and downs on this road. You could pick the one game people don’t remember as fondly as they thoughts. The price for the IP could be so high that app store prices would have to be higher than people are willing to pay. The upside is you could have the hidden gem people were waiting to port to their phone or tablet, and downloads would rack up faster than you thought possible.

I’m not hugely invested in the health of the video game industry, but there are a lot of jobs at stake. Big companies are laying off staff left and right, so mobile could be their saving grace.

Chances are if the price is right, I would replay all the old Mega Man titles on my phone. I’ve already done that with others from my childhood. I’m just not sure how long that can last. 

Blog Post: A Big Spoonful Of #Mobile Nostalgia

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IE11 to appear as Firefox to avoid legacy IE CSS

parislemon:

Max Slater-Robins for Neowin:

To further ensure IE11 users don’t receive an odd version of the site, Microsoft also included the command “Like Gecko” which instructs the website to send back the same version of the website as they would to Firefox. The results of this update are unknown, especially on websites which are poorly coded. The move is strange, but shows that Microsoft is desperate to clean up Internet Explorer and get away from the awful experience in IE6, 7 and 8. 

So, let me get this straight: Microsoft is being forced to trick the web into thinking its own browser is actually that of its chief rival so that pages will render properly?

Such an amazing legacy IE has built.

I love Microsoft. They continue to make one awesome product decision after another!

IE11 to appear as Firefox to avoid legacy IE CSS

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Blog Post: A different take on the war of map apps

In full disclosure, once Google Maps was re-released in the iOS App Store, I added it to my home screen and haven’t looked back. Every once in a while, Siri makes me use Apple’s version, but that’s it.

The Cupertino giant has the same problem as other tech companies in that they can’t find enough good talent. It’s unfair to make them catch up to Google who is years ahead in development and resources.

Perhaps Apple decided to change the tenor of the pace by altering its focus.

The shared link today comes from GigaOm details the recent purchase of indoor location startup WifiSlam by Apple. This industry is not an unknown to Google, they already employ it in many countries in public locations. If Apple could get a step ahead of their main competitor in this space, however, think how the conversation could change in regard to mobile applications.

WifiSlam uses wifi signals to position devices within a 2.5 meter radius of your location. Just think how that could change app development in the next few years.

I’m not naive enough to think this could be in time for iOS 7, but what about next years WWDC? Interesting indeed.

Blog Post: A different take on the war of map apps

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