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Chris Zagorski Posts Tagged ‘Technology’
Will Apple continue to Dazzle?
Off the heels of a successful rollout of the Apple iPad, Apple has unveiled the Apple iPhone 4.0.
While a prototype was discovered and authenticated earlier this year, questions still arise as to what Apple has up its sleeve. Will the company be able to raise the bar again within the smartphone realm, as top competitors like Google, Samsung and Motorola (for example) continue to close the gap in the uniqueness of the iPhone with similar products?
Does the new iPhone have enough “oomph” to propel it dramatically ahead of the competition again? Only time will tell if the public will embrace the fourth generation of the iPhone, but given Apple’s successful past, I am betting that the new version will be well received. What do you think?
What my cell phone search taught me about mobile banking
I recently bought a new cell phone. I previously had a phone that let me do my email and instant messaging, but wouldn’t allow me to do much else. I learned a lot of important things during the process of buying a new phone. Most importantly I learned that I only TALK on my phone for about 83 minutes every month. (My husband, who supposedly hates cell phones, uses our other 1,317 minutes each month.) But I’m getting off topic…
When I realized how little I talk on my phone, I realized that I needed a newer phone that would allow me to do more STUFF on it. What else I needed to do on it wasn’t exactly clear, but how else could I justify the $219 we pay each month for our cell phones? (Two phones, both with data and 1,400 minutes.)
After the agonizing process of trying to find the perfect phone, I now own an Android Incredible. I’m still learning how to use it. In fact, I’m learning really important stuff about it every day. So far it’s helped me navigate to strange places across town and find a restaurant in the mall. I also now always know the five-day forecast. Yesterday I bought my first app for the phone. It is going to organize my entire life and I know it will be life changing. I have a long list of other apps that I want to find.
I didn’t grow up with a cell phone. I didn’t grow up with a computer, let alone email or the Internet. I didn’t grow up with a scanner, a fax machine, a color printer, or an iPod. I grew up with Trim Line phones, typewriters and record players. But in this day and age I use my phone to run my life. I use it for my email, instant messaging, my entire calendar, my grocery list, my to do list, Facebook updates, GPS navigation, the weather forecast, to name a few.
And that brings me—albeit in a roundabout way—to my point. Mobile banking. Clearly mobile banking is going to happen – it needs to happen. It’s a question of when, not if. Right now mobile banking isn’t on my list of things to do on my phone. For me to do mobile banking, I need my bank to receive all my bills electronically. And I want to be able to use my bank to do all my budgeting. Those two things would make mobile banking work for me. But right now I don’t want to pay bills remotely because all my bills are at home in a folder. Is there an App for that?
Contactless phone payments
A popular payment method from Korea is coming to America: Visa is currently trialing contactless phone payments in San Francisco, CA. Phones fitted with small memory cards will become ‘electronic wallets’ that make transactions with store payment systems.
Visa, along with Apple, is also investigating applications that will ultimately allow customers to point their phone at an object and purchase it with a simple click.
A lack of technological infrastructure precludes American retailers and phone brands from rolling out contactless payments across the country anytime soon, but this does raise a host of issues. Paperless banking is one thing and the gradual disappearance of cash and checks is widely accepted.
However are cards to enjoy a short lived ascendancy? Will the contactless phone ultimately consume the debit/credit card? The ability for customers to point and purchase makes ‘on demand’ a reality in retail and has connotations of childish, impulsive, impatience.
In the wider retail world, impulsive purchases might be made in response to advertising installations or chip enabled billboards. Contactless phone payments are yet another example of the “right now” mentality that seems to permeate today’s society.