With tools like RedLaser, Amazon, and Google Product Search all running on our mobile phones, retail stores have come under threat of becoming simple display rooms. Users get hands-on with products, decide whether or not they like, and then price check or order online.
In the future nearly every visible thing will be cataloged and indexed, ready to be instantly identified and described to us. Want to go shopping? In the future we won't need big retail stores with aisles of objects on display. We'll be able to shop out in the world (see image, above). Do you like that new car you saw drive by? Or those cool shoes on the woman sitting across the room? All you’ll have to do is look at it and your mobile handset or AR-equipped eyeglasses will identify the object and look up the best price and retailer.
With recent developments in image recognition technology, and Google's acquisition of Plink, this seems entirely possible. While this is definitely further down the road, think about how brands would get their product out into the marketplace. Product placement would take on new meaning.
Search continues to develop, as users are eager to find information that is most relevant to them.Google goes real-time, Aardvark crowdsources, and Bing does images. With powerful sensor technology packed into consumer mobile devices we see a Search 2.0 taking shape, one that takes elements of the physical world to serve a mobile audience.
We’re already seeing elements of this emerge: voice-to-text technology is making it possible to completely skip the touch screen keyboard; Google’s voice search recognizes what you say to pull up results; apps like Shazam and Midomi run recorded music across their database to match and present an exact artist and song. Soon it could be possible to determine location based on sound levels and texture being fed in through a microphone. This kind of data is beginning to be collected by companies like NoiseTube.
The phone’s camera is also a sensor being used for search, as we’ve seen in new augmented reality applications. Zehnder’s Voodoo Experience helped users find information about performances, attractions, and services within a specific venue. Using Foursquare on Layar brings a similar experience to finding nearby restaurants and bars. Google Goggles lets users snap shots of landmarks, books, or art to pull up search results. Whisper Deck introduces a more experimental interface for accessing information using augmented reality. With physical goggles and microphone, users can immerse themselves in data while away from the computer.
These new methods for search add a new dimension to finding what we want, when we want it. Advertisers would be wise to start thinking about these new modalities and how they can best serve information to consumers through them. While brands sometimes insist on creating an entirely independent store locater app, perhaps it would be wise to simply boost their presence in paths already being used by consumers for discovery and navigation.
This article was originally published online at AdAge.com, where we post content for the Digital Next blog.
Google is making some big moves in local advertising lately.
A couple weeks back the search giant added a mobile couponing option to its Google Local Business Center listing. This means that when a mobile web search lands you on a business's "Place Page," you can get a coupon that is redeemable straight from your phone (no need for printing).
Now, Google has launched a new effort to send window decals to over 100,000 local businesses in the U.S. that have been the most sought out and researched on Google.com and Google Maps.
They're calling these businesses the "Favorite Places on Google" and you'll now start to find them in over 9,000 towns and cities, in all 50 states. You can also explore a sample of the Favorite Places in 20 of the largest U.S. cities at google.com/favoriteplaces.
Each window decal has a unique bar code, known as a QR code that you can scan with any of hundreds of mobile devices -- including iPhone, Android-powered phones, BlackBerry and more -- to take you directly to that business's Place Page on your mobile phone. With your mobile phone and these new decals, you can go up to a storefront and immediately find reviews, get a coupon if the business is offering one or star a business as a place you want to remember for the future. Soon, you'll be able to leave a review on the mobile page as well, just like on your desktop.
So just as businesses display a Zagat or Michelin sticker as a badge of honor, the Google sticker could come to be a more organic quality indicator as well as a link to a lot more information about a place. Creating links to Google in the real world is something they've also attempted with their Google Maps markers. The stickers seems a lot less obtrusive.
Citysearch pilot-tested a similar program in San Francisco back in March of 2008. In that trial, 500 businesses reviewed by Citysearch placed printed Scanbuy's brand of bar codes in their windows. Scanning the photo with Scanbuy's software would send you to the business' corresponding Citysearch page where you can read reviews and other information.
Around the same time, QVC and Case Western University did some trials in which students could scan QR codes on outdoor print signage. These codes let users get campus bus arrival times, order magazines, enter sweepstakes and get text alerts from USA Today, among other applications.
As Ad Age reported, Google also dabbled with QR codes in newspapers last year: "Google has already seen results from a recent test campaign conducted in three markets with jewelry retailer Blue Nile. Each ad contained a QR code and a response tag, and was tested against the same ads without the tags. The code-enhanced ads ended up driving 6.5 times more revenue than the ads without."
Despite these tests, QR codes have decidedly not caught on so far in the U.S. While a more concerted effort by Google could change this, they need to try harder than they did with newspapers. One good thing is you can use any QR reader to decipher their codes.
They are also giving away 40,000 Quickmark QR Code Reader apps for the iPhone, which normally cost $1.99 apiece, to promote it.
John Hanke, VP of Google Earth, Maps, and Local, told Techcrunch that Google Maps on mobile phones will also start including businesses as points of interest. (You may have started to see this already and wondered why certain business were featured.) Google calls these "smart maps," and they are based on a business's PlaceRank, which tries to figure out how prominent a place is based on factors such as references on the web, reviews, photos, how many people know about it, how long its been around.
Google has nothing to lose by trying this, and they know that both local and mobile are their future. Typing into a little search box is annoying on a mobile phone, and new "mobile paths" like shortcodes, QR codes and image recognition may soon replace text-entry search altogether. By helping businesses add these new calls-to-action that lead to Google's Place Pages -- as well as beef up their mobile presences with mobile coupons -- they are attempting to own this emerging space.
Overall, this is good news for the mobile industry -- Google can help push adoption of these technologies -- but there is still the barrier of cost. QR decoding requires data, which requires money. Will people be willing to pay money (albeit tiny amounts) to read what is ostensibly an ad? Or will Place Pages provide enough value (through information, maps, reviews and now coupons) that people won't even think twice about it?
Yesterday Microsoft released an internal study that explains how people are increasingly using 'virtual' systems to get things done in the 'physical' world. Based on these results the company hopes to use Bing to improve this experience, helping people decide what to wear, where to eat, and what the safest medicine is to take. They plan to do this outside of the traditional keyword to URL search by connecting with services like their new Bing Maps.
To enable their new behavior-focused search everywhere, Microsoft also constructed a Bing app for Windows Mobile. The functions used to keep the designers on track included typing less, mapping your way, acting locally, and getting quick answers. While Bing is no threat to Google's search, we approve of their focus on user behavior in developing a better product.
REPS: Just Like Wii Fit, Only on the iPhone | Mashable REPS is a new app for the iPhone that makes a slick hybrid between the physical interactivity of the Nintendo Wii and the many fitness applications available on Apple's phone.
WOW: 4.1 Billion SMS Messages Are Sent Daily | Mashable
The latest semi-annual wireless survey by CTIA presents some shocking numbers: Over 740 billion text messages were sent over in the US during the first half of 2009. That's 4.1 billion SMS messages being sent daily, which is also nearly twice as many as sent during the same time period last year.
Mobile Advertising Is Shaping Up To Be All Search | Techcrunch
With the rise of Web phones like the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Palm, mobile advertising promises to be a huge growth area. The Kelsey Group projects that the mobile advertising market will balloon from $160 million in 2008 to $3.1 billion in 2013.
Would you pay for the mobile version of the WSJ? | The Baltimore Sun The Wall Street Journal's Rupert Murdoch has plans to begin charging the publication's mobile users $2 a week. Online subscribers will have to pay $1 a week and those who do both print and online will have free access.
Opera Mini 5 beta browser strikes it rich | cnet
Introducing an update to their mobile offering, Opera has included tabbed browsing, a password manager, navigation overhaul, and a speed dial landing page.
It's time for Donut! Android v1.6 launched for developers | MobileCrunch
For Android developers, the previous "Cupcake" has been updated to version 1.6 and named Donut, packing in some new features. Donut includes user interface fixes, a battery usage system, Android Market improvements, and CDMA support.
Yesterday we covered some of the latest startups at TechCrunch 50 conference that build upon human behaviors, here are a couple more worth a highlight:
TC50: Clixtr Launches Location-Aware Photo Sharing For The iPhone | TechCrunch
Clixtr for the iPhone is a photo-sharing service that is designed for major events like weddings and concerts. While taking photos with the integrated camera it enables auto uploading to a relevant group album according to GPS location.
Samsung camera keeps vanity in focus [LA Times]
The DualView camera was created specifically with lifestreaming in mind. It features view screens on the front and back, meant to simplify taking self-portraits for social networking sites.
The Powerful and Mysterious Brain Circuitry That Makes us Love Google, Twitter, and Texting [Slate]
All our electronic communication devices—e-mail, Facebook feeds, texts, Twitter—are fueling our unquenchable, hard-wired drive to explore and discover. When we indulge, we stimulate our "pleasure center" and deliver dopamine to our systems, potentially causing obsessive behavior similar to lab rats and drug addicts.
Making the Case For Search-Based Marketing [MarketingVOX]
Advertisers traditionally port creative to the web without much though towards search integration. Google and Bing want to improve on this with better use of location-based searches, as well as voice- and image-based search features to take advantage of the growing smartphone market. This goes beyond a product-focused search to a service-based one, from things such as restaurant finders to repair services.
The Universal Phone For The Blind And Sighted [Yanko Design]
Created by Seunghan Song, the Universal phone is the first full touchscreen mobile for both blind and sighted people. Micro pins on the surface are raised so sighted people can feel whatever is written on the screen, and a button transforms the whole interface into braille for the blind.
Cell Phone TV Watching Prime Time is 1 to 2PM: Who Are These People? [MobileContentToday]
FLO TV has just released metrics showing that the majority of mobile TV viewers are watching between 1 and 2 PM. The data contrasts sharply with regular TV peak times, further highlighting the singular characteristics of mobile usage.
Red Cross reaffirms Faith in Mobile Fundraising [Mobile Marketer]
The Red Cross garners approximately 40% of all US mobile phone donations. Although the total amount is not comparable to other forms of donation, the organization considers the medium to be the future for charities.
Biz Stone, Twitter founder, Talks About the Hack on Tavis Smiley [PBS]
Biz Stone talks about the denial of service attack that Twitter fell victim to last week. That type of attack is relatively common online and sites can only prepare for them not prevent.
Coming In For A Hard Landing [MediaPost]
Many marketers are making the same mistakes with mobile ads that they did with the web, from annoying banners to confusing campaigns. Advertisers need to take the medium seriously or else the consumer won't.
We observe emerging mobile technology, cultural trends, and consumer behavior, then connect the dots to generate mobile strategy and intelligence for leading global brands. This is what we're seeing and thinking.
