Tag Archives: mobile commerce

New Technology And Constant Change Making You Dizzy? Take Back Control.

Growing up in Michigan, we had a saying about the climate: “Don’t like the weather? Just wait five minutes.” Constant change, for better and worse, also applies to the business world and technology in particular. In no other industry can one go from laggard to leader (and back to laggard again) with such head-spinning speed. In my […]

Yahoo’s Drive Vs. Amazon’s Drift: A Contrast In Managing The Migration To Mobile

Last week, both Yahoo and Amazon reported quarterly earnings. Just like a golfer studying how a competitor tees off, their results can help other companies facing similar challenges make better decisions about their mobile businesses. What these two companies had to say indicates very different mobile game plans. Yahoo has a clear-eyed and optimistic view of the […]

Apple Pay Won’t Change Everything, But Smartphone Payments Are The Start Of Something Bigger

As large as e-commerce has become, it still represents only a small portion – about 6 percent – of total US retail spending. That makes brick and mortar a much more attractive target for companies looking to revolutionize the way we shop. Of all its announcements last week, Apple Pay was the company’s most significant headline because […]

Where The Big Money Will Be Made In Mobile (And How You Can Get Your Share)

Shortly after Nokia announced its intention to build smartphones running Windows Phone, Microsoft invited me and a few of my colleagues to a private meeting with three Windows Phone developers who were among the first to build apps for the platform. We could ask them anything; no topics would be off-limits. What stood out to me about that […]

Stumping The Apple Store Geniuses: My Mobile-Enhanced Shopping Day Fail

Last week, the team behind the retail platform PowaTAG invited me to speak at its public launch. (You can learn all about the technology in this brief video.) Available today for iPhone and Android devices and coming soon for Windows Phone and Nokia X, the PowaTAG app works by looking or listening for proprietary video […]

How Walt Disney World Might Save Brick And Mortar Retail

If your company operates physical stores, you face all sorts of challenges. In addition to the same ones facing anyone in the real estate business, you also must confront the threat and opportunity presented by mobile devices. That means you must: Set a pricing strategy in an era dominated by customers using your floor inventory […]

When Are Higher Marketing Costs A Good Thing?

The rapid migration to smartphones and tablets from laptops and desktops has happened at a breath taking pace. While that has created a massive business opportunity, the supply of mobile apps and mobile websites has grown even faster than our demand for that content. The result is that the cost to advertise in mobile has […]

Putting Facebook’s Mobile Results In Perspective

Facebook’s quarterly gains in mobile ad revenue boosted spirits on Wall Street last week, especially for those who have been long on the social networking titan since its bumpy IPO last year. What does Facebook’s performance indicate about the overall health of the mobile economy? I see mostly positive developments and some useful lessons for […]

Office Depot Finds Its Mobile Mojo

Looking for examples of brick and mortar stores that are embracing the mobile revolution? I’ve found one that may inspire you. Several months ago, I wrote about the challenges and opportunities brick and mortar stores have in a world increasingly connected by mobile devices. Customers have taken to “showrooming” store merchandise, by which I mean […]

More Good News For The Mobile Economy

A few months ago, I noted the attempts various companies, Google and Yahoo in particular, were taking to accelerate the growth of the mobile economy and mobile advertising in particular. You can read about it here. This week brought news of the latest development in this effort: the release of new guidelines by the Interactive […]