Top secret iPhone photo?
Sometimes the world needs a superhero. And with Apple slated to release the next iPhone within weeks, now might be one of those times — at least for fans of technology and gadget news. Rumors are swirling about the latest smartphone from Cupertino, and it’s hard to keep up with all of the predictions.
For example, major tech blogs are reporting that a new dock connector is likely, and that Apple will finally support LTE. But a lot of questions remain unanswered: Will the device have an NFC chip? Will it be called the “iPhone 5,” or not? And will Apple release an iPad Mini alongside the iPhone?
One could spend hours scouring news outlets for information, in an attempt to make sense of these rumors – and still come away confused.
Enter the Drunk Hulk – one of of the strongest, most entertaining — and yes, most inebriated — heroes in the world. In 2011, Time Magazine named him as one of the 140 best feeds on Twitter, where he shares his perspective on the world’s top headlines related to technology, politics, entertainment and other topics:
SNOOKI IN LABOR! NEIL ARMSTRONG JUST DIE AND ALL HIS HARD WORK ALREADY CANCEL OUT!
— DRUNK HULK (@DRUNKHULK) August 25, 2012
Having interviewed Drunk Hulk in the past, and in need of some real insightful analysis, I sought him out again to discuss the latest iPhone rumors. Here is the transcript of our interview:
Hi, Drunk Hulk, thanks for joining me again. First things first. If you had a $1 million to bet on what Apple will call the next iPhone, how would you place your bet? Will it be the “iPhone 5,” the “new iPhone,” or something else altogether?
THEY SHOULD NO CALL IT mePHONE PART FIVE! PART FIVE NEVER GOOD! HERE IS SCIENCE TO BACK UP CLAIM! FRIDAY 13TH PART 5 SO BAD THAT JASON NO EVEN IN IT! HARRY POTTER AND ORDER OF PHOENIX! DAVE CLARK FIVE! ERNEST RIDES AGAIN! JOHNNY NUMBER 5! NEXT DIE HARD MOVIE! NO GET DRUNK HULK STARTED ON PARTY OF FIVE!
FOR ONE MILLION DOLLAR! DRUNK HULK PREDICT THEY CALL IT mePHONE 5: FACE OF DEATH!
The next iPhone is rumored to have a different form factor, and a larger screen. With some Android phones sporting huge screens that border on tablet-like dimensions, is this a step in the right direction for Apple?
BIGGER SCREEN IS BETTER! HOW DRUNK HULK SUPPOSE KNOW YOU IMPORTANT AT COFFEE SHOP UNLESS YOU HAVE BIG SCREEN ON YOU mePHONE 5: FULLY LOADED?!
Is that rain, Drunk Hulk?
Apple has been promoting Siri heavily. Many iPhone owners, however, have complained that the voice-activated assistant has failed to deliver on its promise. Will the next iPhone include a more useful version of Siri?
FRANKLY! CONSIDERING SHE TOM CRUISE DAUGHTER! AND CRAZY RICH! DRUNK HULK SURPRISE SIRI WORK AT ALL! ESPECIALLY FOR mePHONE 5: DREAM CHILD!
The next iPhone will replace Google Maps with a new default mapping application, called Maps. Do you think it will be a suitable replacement for Google Maps, and will you trust it to get you home after a few drinks?
WOW! APPLE REALLY WENT OLD SCHOOL! DRUNK HULK REMEMBER MAPS! YOU SEE KIDS! BEFORE THERE WAS GOOGLE MAPS! THERE WAS MAPS! MAPS WAS LARGE SHEET OF PAPER THAT ONCE UNFOLD WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO REFOLD! DRUNK HULK GUESS HIPSTERS WILL LOVE MAPS! BECAUSE THEY WERE NEVER COOL TO BEGIN WITH! DRUNK HULK CAN NO WAIT TO USE MAPS ON mePHONE 5: FINAL FRONTIER!
Another rumor making the rounds is that the next iPhone will support Near Field Communication (NFC). If this materializes, will it spur a new era of innovation around mobile payments?
NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION? WHAT ABOUT IF DRUNK HULK WANT COMMUNICATE WITH SOMEONE ON FAR FIELD? THIS SEEM LIKE TERRIBLE MISTAKE! IF IT NEAR FIELD! DRUNK HULK CAN WALK OVER AND TALK IN PERSON! DRUNK HULK MORE WORRY ABOUT COMMUNICATING WITH GUY IN FAR FIELD!
HEY APPLE! YOU REALLY DROP BALL ON mePHONE 5: FIELDS OF TERROR!
iPhone sales, in millions
Apple might sell more than 50 million new iPhones over the holiday quarter, and over 250 million units over the device’s lifetime. With demand for the next iPhone expected to be so heavy, will you be camping out overnight to buy one as soon as it becomes available?
LAST TIME DRUNK HULK CAMP OUT ALL NIGHT FOR SOMETHING AMAZING! DRUNK HULK DISCOVER JAR JAR BINKS! SO UNLESS DRUNK HULK HAPPEN TO PASS OUT IN FRONT OF APPLE STORE NIGHT BEFORE! DRUNK HULK WILL NOT BE CAMPING OUT FOR mePHONE 5: NEW BEGINNING!
While we’re on the subject of Apple, let’s talk about technology patents. Apple is involved in patent litigation with Samsung, Motorola, and others. And with other innovative technology giants such as Facebook, Amazon and Google devoting significant resources to patent disputes, it’s time to ask: Are technology patents promoting, or inhibiting, innovation?
Drunk Hulk
DRUNK HULK NO EXPERT! BUT THIS REMIND DRUNK HULK OF TIME WHEN DRUNK HULK GO ON TWTTER! AND THEN THERE HUNDRED OTHER HULKS ON TWITTER! AND DRUNK HULK SAY, “HEY! DRUNK HULK FIRST! GIVE DRUNK HULK BILLION DOLLAR!” AND THEY LAUGH AT DRUNK HULK IN 140 CHARACTER OR LESS!
NOW THAT DRUNK HULK THINK ABOUT IT! MAYBE APPLE GETTING READY FOR mePHONE 5: INFERNO! OR TAKE SAMSUNG MONEY AND MAKE mePHONE 5: ASSIGNMENT: MIAMI BEACH!
Hulk, thanks again for your time and insights.
YOU MOST WELCOME! CAN NO WAIT FOR mePHONE 5: FIGHT TO FINISH!
So there you have it — analysis of the latest Apple rumors from the Drunk Hulk (Who, by the way, is the creation of Christian A. Dumais, a writer whose work I highly recommend; you should also check out his TEDxWroclaw talk). As Drunk Hulk infers above, fifth-generation movie titles are rarely any good. With all the rumored changes to the fifth-generation iPhone, it remains to be seen whether the device suffers the same fate.
What do you think about the Drunk Hulk’s assessment of the issues above? Let me know with a comment below!
Follow @shanebarnhill
I’m bullish on Redmond again.
Don’t call me a Microsoft fanboy, though. If anything, it would be easier to accuse me of Apple fanboy-ism. I own an iPhone, an iPad, an iPod, and a second iPad for family use. I even have a company-issued iPad for mobile-related projects at work. I just want the best technology products available, and right now — at least in my opinion — those all come from Apple. Though, to be fair, Android-based smartphones — across of a variety of hardware manufacturers — have a larger share of the smartphone market.
Regardless of your preference for Apple or Android, however, it’s clear that Microsoft — along with Research in Motion (RIM) — has a lot to lose as consumer preferences influence enterprise buying decisions. A Cisco study, in fact, reported that 88% of IT leaders are seeing increased growth of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD ) policies, which allow employees to choose their own work-related computer hardware. A lot of this is driven by intense consumer demand for Apple products, and to some extent higher-end Android smartphones from Samsung and other manufacturers.
Standard-issue BlackBerrys and cheap laptops are under attack. This situation is problematic for organizations concerned with cost containment and data security, however, as IT begins to lose oversight of the devices that employees connect to company networks.
Enter the Microsoft Surface tablet.
It runs Windows, with all the familiar Office applications (at least the Pro version does). It has a keyboard. It’s secure. Essentially, the device is a touch-screen laptop in a tablet’s clothing. Some commentators have gone so far as to say that the Surface isn’t even truly competing with the iPad.
From a perception standpoint, then, the Surface tablet is poised to solve a huge issue that CIOs and other executives have with BYOD, and more specifically, with the invasion of iPads into their previously tightly-controlled environments.
The problem: CIOs are deeply concerned with controlling their device footprints.
As companies deploy mobile devices (especially tablets) to mobile workers in sales, event management, on-site tech support and other functions, the number of devices that require IT oversight begins to creep uncomfortably upward. Each incremental device on a company network increases the cost to serve an employee base, and the last time I checked, CIOs weren’t complaining about budget surpluses.
CIOs want to keep the ratio of devices per employee at 2:1, or lower, in order to control costs. Consequently, the refrain that I’ve started to hear from IT leadership, then, goes (facetiously) something like this, “Sure, I’ll grant your request for an iPad. Just let me know which device you’ll give up in return — your laptop, or your phone.”
The tablet-for-a-laptop trade-off just isn’t a legitimate option for most employees. Let’s face it: the iPad is better-suited for consuming information, rather than creating it. For browsing the web, checking email, watching videos and using apps, the iPad is a great device. It just works. However, specialized apps and hardware (e.g. keywords) are often needed for content creation, data security, enterprise email access, and integration with Office applications. Microsoft’s Surface tablet won’t come with these issues, thereby enabling IT leaders to meet the increasing mobility needs of workers while simultaneously controlling costs (by replacing laptops).
Microsoft has an enormous opportunity to disrupt tablet use within enterprises.
While many analysts are focused on comparing the Microsoft Surface to the iPad as a consumer device, Microsoft’s best opportunity to gain early traction with the Surface is likely the enterprise market, a segment in which 80% of the Fortune 100 have deployed iPads for productivity purposes.
RIMM's beaten-down stock (click to enlarge)
But Microsoft has to nail this opportunity out of the gate. A good comparison is RIM, which rushed its highly-anticipated BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to market out of desperation. The PlayBook has been an unmitigated disaster, and has contributed to RIM’s stock price free fall since its release (see chart).
Here’s how Microsoft can get the Surface right, the first time:
1. Make it easy for application developers to build apps that run on one operating system, across smartphones, tablets and laptops/desktops. This is key, and Microsoft is already taking this step.
2. Continue paying app developers to build top apps for Windows devices. Microsoft has been footing the bill for companies such as foursquare to bring versions of popular apps to Windows phone. While this is a highly unusual and expensive approach, it’s strategically brilliant. If Windows devices support most of the top mobile apps, this reduces switching costs for iPhone, iPad, and Android users. Microsoft needs to continue financing app development for makers of popular apps, and sell their accessibility across devices.
3. Get the messaging right. Is the Windows RT model a toy for consumers who want to play with apps? Is the Surface for Windows 8 Pro model aimed toward making workers more productive? There is already confusion regarding the two devices. Microsoft’s Marketing Communications team will need to work hard to market the RT and Pro tablets differently, especially given that many business executives still scoff at iPhones and iPads as “toys.”
4. Leverage its best assets, such as Xbox and Skype. This is a no-brainer. The Surface must — and undoubtedly will — come with seamless Skype integration at launch. What is less clear, however, is how the Surface will connect to the Xbox ecosystem (e.g. Will the Surface eventually double as an Xbox controller?). The Xbox is a unique competitive advantage among players in the tablet space, and Microsoft should play up future connectivity between the two systems.
5. Beat competing devices on price. Microsoft didn’t announce pricing for its two Surface models during its much-ballyhooed launch event. But make no mistake: pricing is critical for the Surface. The Windows RT model should be priced well below the iPad, and the Windows 8 Pro Surface should be priced somewhere between an iPad and a mid-tier laptop. These price points will position the Surface to siphon away market share from iPads and laptops. Pricing is especially important for the Surface’s Pro model, as Microsoft will seek to familiarize business users with its tablets in order to change consumer preferences.
In summary, Microsoft has a better chance at tablet success than many are predicting.
Granted, Microsoft has to get a lot of steps right in order to make a dent in Apple’s dominance of the market for tablets. And there is very little room for error. The first generation of the product has to be amazing in order to convince a skeptical public:
Here’s the how the story ends with the Microsoft Surface: “Zune.”
— Joseph Manna (Joe) (@JoeManna) June 19, 2012
Remember the Microsoft Kin? lol… Remember the Microsoft Zune? lol… Remember the Microsoft Surface? #exactly
— Skylor (@skylor) June 23, 2012
Hey, wasn’t the Atari 400 also a pressure-sensitive keyboard? zd.net/LiKAAJ #surface #microsoft
— Eric Y Lai (@ericylai) June 19, 2012
But it’s because of this skepticism that there’s reason to believe that Microsoft will be successful with the Surface. Unlike RIM’s rushed attempt to build a tablet for enterprise buyers, Microsoft has taken a slow, almost plodding, approach. And now the business case for its resulting product is clear. With a device that enables mobile workers while controlling costs, there is evident ROI for IT departments to justify investing in the Surface.
And I believe they will. So despite what you might think, it’s time to be bullish on Microsoft again. Are you bullish or bearish? Let me know with a comment below.
Smartphone + Beer = Problems
There’s a well-known remedy for saving smartphones that have been damaged after being submerged in water. As detailed in this thread on Quora, the solution involves filling a plastic bag with rice, sliding your phone in, sealing the bag up, and letting the rice wring the moisture out of the phone.
For a whole week. Seven. Whole. Days.
So there I was yesterday, holding my iPhone in one hand and a bag of rice in the other, all the while regretting my choice to read Twitter while holding my phone over a pint of beer (yep, it fell in).
As I prepared to slide my phone into the bag of rice, I stopped for a moment and pondered whether the actions that I were about to take were realistic. I was moments away from a week without Instagram. No foursquare or Path. No texting. None of the magic of Siri. And perhaps most frightening, time apart from mobile Twitter.
Slowly, I put the bag down. I decided to spend an afternoon field testing life without my smartphone, and make a decision based on the experience.
I could go into the whole afternoon and evening, step-by-step. But here’s the short it: Waiting in lines without the ability to kill time by reading Twitter was painful. I couldn’t check in anywhere — and this has become as reflexive as breathing. I wanted to Oink, but couldn’t, and had no idea what was going on within Facebook. And to top it off, some dude was wearing a huge furry hat with horns and I couldn’t even Instagram it.
Thank you, sir. May I please have another?
So what did I do? I went home, cooked the rice, and made an appointment with the Genius Bar at my local Apple Store to trade in my phone for a replacement unit.
It’s going to cost me $199. But get this: there are 168 hours over a seven-day period. For $199, I don’t have to go without my iPhone for those 168 hours. That’s a cost of $1.18 per hour.
Think of it another way. If someone offered to pay you $1.18/hour to go without your smartphone (whether it’s an iPhone, Android device, or Windows phone), how long would you be willing to take the deal? Could you go a whole week?
And what if you had to rub salt in the wound by using a BlackBerry in the meantime?
I couldn’t do it. And no, I’m not made of money. The $199 replacement fee is going to hurt, especially after I’ve just finished buying Christmas presents. But my smartphone has become an integral part of nearly every waking hour of my day — so I just couldn’t.
Could you? Let me know with a comment below!
Like a lot of other people — about 4 million, to be precise — I’ve recently upgraded my mobile phone to an iPhone 4S and started enjoying Siri, the personal assistant that is perhaps the smartphone’s most talked-about new feature. Siri has garnered attention for several reasons, including:
- Siri’s ability to understand and translate natural language into useful responses. Limited commands, such as “Get Weather Report” aren’t required. Instead, Siri does an admirable job of interpreting regular speech, such as, “Is it going to cool off next week?”
- The potential for integrating Siri with a wide array of apps once developers are given greater access to Siri’s API. Imagine being able to use Siri to compose tweets, check in to venues, and buy movie tickets — all through natural language as opposed to a limited set of commands. This will happen, and it will be incredibly powerful.
- The application’s human-like sense of humor, which has spawned websites such as Shit That Siri Says. Apple’s engineers have apparently had a lot of fun enhancing Siri after Apple’s 2010 acquisition of Siri Inc.
Siri, will it be cold this week?
Clearly, consumers are captivated not only by Siri’s current capabilities, but also by its potential to tie apps together through voice. And after several days of using Siri, I am too.
But do you know what data point jumps out to me as a far more important fact? The number of times I’ve used Google search since my first use of Siri = Zero.
That’s right. The idea of launching my mobile web browser, typing words into a text box (on a small screen, no less), and clicking a button to initiate a search suddenly feels about as antiquated as file/folder structures do in Microsoft Windows in comparison with touch-based app experiences. Just as Apple took on Microsoft by re-inventing (or at least perfecting) the process for storing and retrieving data, they’re taking on Google by attacking the search giant’s bread and butter. Why type the words “Best Mexican food Phoenix” into a text box when I can simply say, “Siri, I want a burrito?”
A few caveats that favor Android
If a humble end user like me can recognize this potential disruption to Google’s crown jewel, then Larry Page and company almost certainly do. They’ll counterpunch, and in fact, may have an upper hand for a few reasons:
Android adoption: faster than iPhone
- From a growth perspective, Android is far outpacing the iPhone (which you can learn more about in Mary Meeker’s amazing Presentation on Internet Trends, which I’ve embedded below). This may blunt the impact of Apple’s attack on Google Search.
- Android phones have had solid, if unspectacular, voice-based functionality for years now.
- Competitors (which can be acquired) will undoubtedly emerge to offer a competing level of Artificial Intelligence. For example, Iris (yes, that’s “Siri” spelled backwards) has already sprung up — with similar functionality — as the result of a mere eight-hour hackathon project.
Undoubtedly, however, Apple has changed the future of search with Siri. And if one company has proved that it can re-imagine an existing process, provide a user experience that promotes its rapid adoption, and turn the process into “the new normal,” it’s Apple. Siri is an outright assault on Google’s position as the dominant player in search, and this assault will become even more effective when Siri’s API permits interactivity with popular apps such as Yelp and foursquare.
So sorry Andy Rubin, but you’re wrong.
Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the the popular BlackBerry line of phones, is battling through tough times. The company’s stock price is down approximately 80 percent over 3 years in the face of intense competition from Apple’s iPhone and other smartphones running Google’s Android operating system. And just last week, the company released disappointing first quarter financial results, which included decreases in both net income and earnings per share compared with the first quarter of 2010.
And I haven’t even gotten to the bad news yet.
The trash: Is this where the BlackBerry is headed?
“But RIM Owns the Enterprise Market”
That’s the refrain that you’ll hear from most people in corporate IT during a discussion of RIM’s woes. And to some extent, it’s true (though the overall market share trend line is disturbing). However, BlackBerry’s position as the standard phone for major corporate customers is in jeopardy for a handful of reasons.
First, developers are bailing out on the platform
Apps are perhaps the most significant driver of growth for the smartphones and tablets. Unfortunately for BlackBerry, many of the top application developers don’t even bother developing for the platform. Sure, Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter are there, but many of the more interesting new apps are available only on iPhone and Android devices (such as group messaging and photo-sharing apps).
Worse yet, there are signs that an exodus from the platform began long ago. One of the most high-profile cases occurred earlier this week when Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur announced that his company would discontinue its support for BlackBerry. As an added kick in the shorts to RIM, he then touted the potential of Windows Phone 7 as the best third option for a smartphone (behind the iPhone and Android devices, of course) in this video interview.
Second, commercial trends are driving enterprise policies
It’s no secret that the “consumerization of IT” is underway, with executive leaders demanding IT support for popular smartphones and tablets. Many organizations are responding by implementing “bring your own device” policies that permit employees to access corporate data from personal devices.
Guess which company stands to lose the most as this trend gains steam? It’s not Apple. Or Google. Or Microsoft.
Third, short product release cycles pose an unrelenting challenge
Since the release of the original iPhone in 2007, Apple has released a new version of the smartphone every year. And like clockwork, the iPhone 5 (or potentially, the iPhone 4S) is likely to be released in September of this year. Apple’s release cycle prevents the type of product stagnation that could slow the iPhone’s growth.
On top of that, roughly eighty-three (yes, 83) Android-based phones have been released since early 2010. Let me say that again: eighty-three Android phones in less than two years. While Apple differentiates its products for the high-end segment of the market by featuring simplicity, an “it just works” experience and an abundance of apps, Google is content to fortify its castle by partnering with an array of hardware manufacturers and service providers to gobble up market share among value-conscious consumers.
The relentless innovation from both Apple and Google hurt RIM by offering little time for the manufacturer to change consumer perceptions of its brand. Even an inspiring, radically innovative new product from RIM will have precious little time to resonate with consumers (and more importantly, business leaders) before another shiny new offering from Apple or Google pulls away the spotlight.
Fourth, the the iPad’s penetration into the enterprise has changed the game
While the iPad is commonly perceived as a consumer-focused device, between 65-80% of Fortune 100 companies have adopted the iPad for business use, according to reports. This phenomenon brings with it enhanced affinity for all iOS devices.
By contrast, BlackBerry’s release of the Playbook has been a disaster. RIM recently reduced its sales forecast to a range of 800,000 to 900,000 units in 2011, down from a projection of 2.4 million. Really — who wants a tablet that has to be tethered to a phone?
Another brand disaster (Image: Infrogmation)
Living on the Edge
The truth is, all technology companies are just one misread of the market’s direction away from their demise. Blockbuster, for example, didn’t pivot quickly enough in response to challenges from Netflix and Redbox. Google, in former CEO Eric Schmidt’s own words, “screwed up” by failing to react to the rise of social networking (hence Facebook’s ascension as a rival advertising powerhouse). And Nokia reacted slowly as consumer preferences shifted away from feature phones to smartphones (at least in developed markets).
Like Nokia, which has turned to Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform in a fight for survival, RIM may soon be forced to embrace a rival in order to stop its free fall. Already, speculation has resurfaced regarding a potential acquisition by Microsoft.
So will RIM will choose to resurrect its BlackBerry brand through new products, a sale, or a partnership? I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know this: RIM is in serious trouble, and it’s worse than you think. With developers fleeing the BlackBerry platform, consumer preferences driving corporate buying patterns, and product release cycles offering little hope for a sustained impact from new products, the story of RIM’s continued decline will be told through its sinking stock price.
Last week, Starbucks unveiled Starbucks Card Mobile, the company’s proprietary mobile payment solution. Available as an app for iPhone, iPod touch and BlackBerry devices, Starbucks’ mobile payment application will now be accepted at over 7800 locations within the United States.
Starbucks Card Mobile: A Confusing First Impression
First Impressions
Most mobile application users have become accustomed to the simplicity and intuitive nature of apps, such as those from foursquare, GetGlue and Seesmic. By contrast, the Starbucks app will likely leave many people wondering, “Well, what do I do now?” upon download. There are options to add a Starbucks card number to the application, create a new Starbucks account and enter in credit card information. The latter two features alone will not produce any kind of a prompt for making a payment. Furthermore, the “Payments” section — which many new users are likely to visit hoping to pay for goods — instead provides both a video overview of Starbucks Card Mobile and an option to search for participating Starbucks locations.
The correct process for enabling Starbucks Card Mobile involves buying a plastic Starbucks card, registering it online at starbucks.com and then linking the physical card to the application through the “Cards” section. Current cardholders can link existing cards.
The Interface and Payment Process
Once a plastic card has been linked to the app, the Starbucks mobile payment application is ready to use. Other than the aforementioned ”Payments” section — which is poorly-named — the Starbucks Card Mobile application is easy to navigate and use. Within the “Cards” section, a “Touch to Pay” button appears once a link has been established to a physical card. Other sections within the application allow customers to track any rewards they’ve earned, search for nearby Starbucks stores and manage account details such as billing information, passwords, etc.
Likewise, the process of paying for coffee is intuitive, quick and easy. After placing an order, simply press the “Touch to Pay” button — which produces a bar code — and position your device in front of the cashier’s scanner. The payment process takes less than 10 seconds.
Starbucks Mobile: Touch to Pay
One Small Step for Mobile, One Giant Leap for Mobile Commerce
Despite the ease-of-use associated with Starbucks Card Mobile, the technology behind the application is not the future of mobile commerce. The next generation of smartphones from Apple and Google will employ Near Field Communication (NFC), which allows for wireless data transmission between two NFC-enabled devices. In the very near future, most consumers will have phones that are pre-loaded with the capability to pay for groceries, coffee and nearly all other transactions without ever reaching for their wallets (see also: NFC: 6 Ways It Could Change Our Daily Lives)
Starbucks, however, should be commended for helping to bring mobile payments into the mainstream. Undoubtedly, by exposing its millions of customers to the new world of fast, easy mobile payments, Starbucks will expedite the adoption of wallet-less commerce.
While the efforts of companies such as Square, Bling Nation and Venmo have all helped push mobile commerce forward, none of them have the brand recognition, daily foot traffic and marketing might of Starbucks. The release of Starbucks Card Mobile builds upon the small steps of these pioneering predecessors.
Thus, by the time NFC arrives as an option for the masses, a large, highly-caffeinated segment of the American public will already be prepared to take the giant leap of leaving their wallets behind. Someday, debit cards, physical signatures and checks are likely to be but mere secondary payment options. When that day arrives, we’ll have this offering from Starbucks to look back upon, as Dennis Stevenson notes, “as the beginning” of a new era of commerce.
Have you tried Starbucks Card Mobile? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts about the application. Let me know what you think!
