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Archive for November, 2009
(It) Gli italiani e la voglia di semplificarsi la vita…
2 years ago
PayPass a Milano (via di P.ta Vercellina)
Secondo la ricerca “Gli italiani e la voglia di semplificarsi la vita” condotta dal Barometro ISPO per MasterCard, il desiderio principale della gente risulta essere quello di facilitare la routine quotidiana, facendo leva sulla velocità, l’ingrediente principale per renderla meno complicata.
Le tecnologie in questo giocano un ruolo importante e, tra queste, le carte di pagamento aiutano gli italiani a condurre una vita più semplice.
“Gli italiani cercano di destreggiarsi tra i molti impegni e il poco tempo a disposizione, con interessanti risultati: il 58% degli intervistati, in particolare la fascia attiva della popolazione (25-54 anni), ha un atteggiamento “frenetico”, mille impegni e responsabilità da gestire in poco tempo” dichiara Paolo Battiston – Direttore Generale MasterCard Italia. “La tecnologia contactless facilita l’utilizzo della carta di pagamento specialmente in quelle situazioni in cui la velocità è essenziale, come ad esempio prendere un caffè, fare la spesa, noleggiare un film o comprare un libro ”.
ISPO-MASTERCARD: Le tecnologie al servizio della semplificazione
Il 72% degli intervistati ritiene che le tecnologie abbiano realmente semplificato la vita, tuttavia alcuni ritengono che i prodotti scientifici nascondono delle piccole insidie: per il 65% infatti risultano difficili da usare. Chi invece guarda alla tecnologia con assoluta fiducia è una quota pari al 32%, più spesso giovane (i 18-24enni sono il 58%) e istruita (i laureati sono il 55%).
Ma quali sono i prodotti che più incidono positivamente nella gestione della quotidianità? Innanzitutto il telefonino (80%), seguito dalle carte di pagamento (74%) e da internet (72%).
E cosa rende “indispensabili” questi prodotti? Per la maggioranza assoluta degli utilizzatori (52%) è la comodità, poi la velocità (15%) e la sicurezza (14%).
“I pagamenti in modalità ‘contactless’ rispondo perfettamente a queste esigenze: la transazione si effettua avvicinando semplicemente la carta al POS abilitato, senza dover firmare lo scontrino o digitare il PIN. Al risparmio di tempo si aggiunge un’evidente praticità: la possibilità di pagare in tutta sicurezza, dal momento che la carta non lascia mai le mani del proprio titolare” commenta Paolo Battiston.
L’83% degli intervistati ritiene le carte di pagamento utili per rendere la vita meno complicata, non solo perché permettono di viaggiare o di fare grandi acquisti senza avere con sé molti contanti, ma anche perché consentono di rendere semplici e veloci i pagamenti quotidiani. Queste percezioni sono più diffuse nella fascia giovane (18-24enni) e attiva della popolazione.
“I consumatori di oggi cercano soluzioni aggiuntive che consentano di avere più comodità e miglior controllo di spesa: MasterCard PayPass™ offre soluzioni che vanno incontro a queste esigenze” conclude Paolo Battiston.
PayPass a Milano (via di P.ta Vercellina)
Wireless Dynamics brings the joys of inventory management to the iPhone with the iCarte RFID reader
2 years ago
“You know, that pallet of overpriced skin cream isn’t going to stock itself. Maybe if you’d stop playing Bingo Bonanza you’d have done that already. Oh, you say you’re scanning their RFIDs to add them to our system? Whatever, you’re fired.” It’s a scenario we see playing itself out at warehouses all around the world thanks to the iCarte from Wireless Dynamics, a device enabling iPods and iPhones to read from and write to RFID tags. It clips on the bottom and sports a mini-USB port so that you can still sync, but can also use the phone’s wireless mechanisms to communicate with various systems, updating inventory or tracking purchases. As far as we know it will not prevent your phone from playing games, but we won’t tell your boss about that. Nor will we tell him how much these will cost or when he can order them, since we don’t know ourselves.
Update: Wireless Dynamics asked that we clarify that this device is indeed consumer-oriented, able to scan the RFID tags in your credit cards, transport badges, and probably even that chip you had implanted into your dog’s head. So, this means you would be able to make MasterCard PayPass and similar RFID transactions without even reaching for your wallet — which sounds as convenient as it does disconcerting. Being able to verify that your dog hasn’t been replaced by an evil clone while you were at work? Priceless.
Google Acquires Technology To Customize Display Ads
2 years ago
by admin
in Mobile Advertising
Google plans to acquire Teracent, a startup that allows display ads to be customized for specific deliveries. Teracent’s Intelligent Display Advertising relies on machine-learning algorithms to select the optimal creative elements for each ad impression. The technology from Teracent can also be valuable for delivering Google’s mobile ads.
On Monday, Google announced it plans to acquire yet another advertising company. The search giant has targeted Teracent, a San Mateo, Calif., startup that customizes display ads for different situations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Teracent’s trademarked Intelligent Display Advertising makes ads fully customizable to specific consumers and sites. The technology relies on machine-learning algorithms to decipher and select the optimal creative elements for each ad impression.
“As you know, we’ve been busy releasing new features and products to help improve display advertising on the web for everyone. We believe that Teracent’s technology fits neatly into these efforts,” Neal Mohan, Google’s vice president of product management, and Joerg Heilig, Google’s engineering director, wrote on the company blog.
An Important Mobile Feature
Teracent’s technology can pick and choose from thousands of display-ad creative elements in real time. Advertisers can change images, products, messages or colors. These variables can be optimized based on factors such as geographic location, language, the content of the web site, the time of day, or the past performance of different ads.
“This technology can help advertisers get better results from their display-ad campaigns,” Mohan and Heilig said. “In turn, this enables publishers to make more money from their ad space and delivers web users better ads and more ad-funded web content.”
Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, agrees that Teracent’s technology could bring Google users better display-advertising results — and he noted it’s an important capability in mobile advertising as well.
“The promise of mobile advertising is ‘right time, right ad, right place.’ In search, the user expresses that need or interest in the form of a query and you get an ad back that generally or directly satisfies that query,” Sterling said. “So search is not as much of an issue as display advertising, which has historically been static.”
Tying in AdMob
With mobile advertising, there are too many variables for human beings to manage. To fulfill the promise of right time, right ad, right place, a platform that mixes and matches creative elements and ad copy based on time of day and place is required, Sterling said. Teracent is that platform.
“Google has AdMob with all its publisher relationships and creative ad units, and now they’ve got a technology platform to allow some of those creative elements to be substituted based on these variables,” Sterling said. “That’s a pretty formidable combination.”
Google snapped up AdMob for $750 million in stock earlier this month. Google said the AdMob deal will help the company develop more effective tools for creating, serving and analyzing emerging mobile-ad formats. As this ecosystem continues to grow, Google expects the new marketing media to offer significant benefits. Like Microsoft and Yahoo, Google is looking to tap into a mobile advertising market that’s expected to grow to $5.7 billion by 2014.
