Marketing Technology 5
Marketing Technology Stories you might have missed
MT5 Edition: Â #34
Stories This Week: mobile wallet adoption, klout brand pages, Instagram ushers in new era, the fifth screen, Path isn’t the next Instagram
1. Pew: 65% of Experts Say Most People Will Adopt Mobile Payments By 2020
[VentureBeat] There’s a lot of smart minds looking at how to facilitate purchases using a smart phone instead of a credit card.
My Take: If you click through and review the Pew study, you’ll see the factors believed to stall the adoption of the mobile wallet: device fragmentation, security concerns and industry adoption. Â Still, I think 8 years is a relatively long time in technology and I expect innovation will hasten the adoption. Â There’s too much value on both sides of the mobile transaction to slow down the trend. Â Customers will benefit from specials and coupons; brands will enjoy the ability to market to customers at the moment of purchase intent.
2. Klout Launches Brand Pages To Help Companies Engage Influencers
[BrandChannel]Â Brand Squad pages offer three benefits to marketers: the reveal of top influencers associated with a brand or topic; a showcase for content; and another burgeoning platform (beyond Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest) for brands to reward social media influencers with exclusive perks.
Example: Red Bull Brand Page
My Take: On the whole I think this is a positive development. There seems to be a good value exchange between the brand and the consumer. Â The brand page doesn’t currently provide for engagement between the brand and consumer, but perhaps it’s not intended to.
Red Bull Klout Page
3. It’s Not About Instagram — It’s About Mobile
[TechCrunch] The author says some incredible stuff:
Web 2.0 is over. Instagram is the Netscape IP of the new era. Mobile or death.
My Take: For me, there’s still a lot of uncertainty going on: Are we in another tech bubble? Was Instagram a bargain? Did Facebook buy Instagram to keep it out of the hands of twitter?
4. The Fight For The Fifth Screen (Fifth Screen!?) In Your Life
[FastCompany]Â Smartwatches, AR goggles, and more: There’s a mighty scramble afoot for your last sliver of attention. Is the start of ad-mageddon?
My Take: I kickstarted Pebble and I’m looking forward to see what apps are developed for it. I’m less excited about Google’s Project Glass, those glasses look odd and I’m not sure I want to experience the internet that way.
5. Cool App Update: Path
Path
[Gigom] The Instagram acquisition has pundits looking around for the next big startup that’s ripe for being gobbled up.  The post argues why Path will remain independent.
My Take: I know not everyone likes Path, but I like it. It’s got a great UI and it’s a more intimate network.  The author argues that Path doen’t have a distinctive feature that makes it stand out, and he’s right. What bugs me is the over-emphasis on feature-apps. I’ll have to write a separate post on this, but the gist is, well rounded apps are overlooked in favor of single function apps.
[important]
Are you picking up what I’m laying down? Sign up to receive updates automatically:
[/important]