Japan's M-Commerce

In the era of technology, mobile phone is becoming more and more essential in part of our daily routine. There are over 4.6 billion active mobile subscriptions in 2010 (greater than the world’s population) and over a billion mobiles are sold annually.

For this post, I will be introducing you some interesting mobile service in Japan, that hopefully, we will be able to see it in Australia and other countries around the world.

Few years ago, the new mobile payment system was introduced in Japan; it allows people to pay for goods and services without any cash or cards, people just simply pay by swiping their cell phones on an electronic pad and that’s all… no paper work, no signature needed - everything is so convenience.

Just check out this video:

And how about applying this to a business?

McDonald's has created a mobile coupon system that is used in an astounding 15% of all transactions in their stores in Japan. The site has 14 million users, and the coupon/payment application they developed has been downloaded 4 million times. From this amount of users, surely McDonalds had made people talking.

On the other hand, having mobile payment system is convenience, but how about if your mobile were stolen, as it acts just like a credit card (and perhaps more valuable), this could lead to a disaster. All of your account details etc. stored in the phone can easily be taken. And possibly in the future, if people can hack your computer then your phone will be next!



Source: http://www.slideshare.net/shanew/the-mobile-industry-ecosystem

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Google Chrome OS

Many of you might be familiar with the Google Chrome; a speedy web browser that was launched by Google in 2008. It was designed for “people who live on the web” — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends.

With this changing trend, Google exploited this opportunity and launched the Google Chrome Operating System in 2009. Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system initially targeted at netbooks (considered being a potential threat to Microsoft). Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects, so when you start up your computer you can get onto web in just a few seconds.

Chrome OS is free unlike Microsoft Window, it will put all your applications, pictures, music personal data - everything – online, in the Google “cloud,” anything you put on the machine is available to you anywhere, given an internet access. The clever thing is it encourage you to hand over your personal information and it also ensure you spent even more time online.

However, the biggest flaw is that without internet Google Chrome OS is nothing better than Microsoft. Even more, your privacy become your major concern as all of your information is being stored online; this means Google know the patterns of your calendar, who you are contacting with and all your searches. By making sense of that data, they will be able to hit you with targeted adverts. So backing to the same old topic - Privacy - Do people knowingly trade privacy for convenience?

Check out the following video to see how the system works:

And a demo:

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MyTea - Privacy issues

As the world become globalized, privacy issues become much of the concern now a day, especially how company handle their customer’s information…
Customers are required to register to the company’s website in exchange for gaining access to certain benefits (you have now already disclosed your personal information to the company). Some companies state that they will keep your information confidential, however to what extent you can be sure that they did not sell your information to other.

Your information alone would not be that much of use for them, but, how about millions of personal information? Many companies utilize this information to leverage their marketing activities unethically i.e. direct mails, spams or junk mails. Check out your post box, how many junk mails have you received already this week (not surprisingly, mine’s 5).

Talking much of the negative aspects of using personal information, however, if the information is being possessed by a right person, it can also create a good cause for the society. Myki, for example, is being used by the police to track down commuters' movements.

Similar to credit card, Myki contains a microchip which stores your balance, recent journeys and transactions (if you are registered). Upon a formal request, Transport Ticketing Authority (TTA) will hand over the information as part of separate police investigations. Since December 2009, there had been already four requests about customers. The recent case was a Queensland woman, whom police wanted to interview as part of murder probe. The poll from this news suggests that vast majority of the passengers (63%) are concern with their privacy.

However, the question is: Do people knowingly trade privacy for convenience?
The increased convenience of mobile phones, the increased convenience of Myki, the increased convenience of iPad - people focus almost exclusively on the convenience and don't give a moment's thought to how the electronic track provides a ready bank of electronic information that the police can readily access.

Whether it's good or bad is a matter of perspective and the issue is open to debate. In my opinion, Privacy's not a matter of covering when you're doing something wrong. A level of privacy can be a matter of life and death. However, the use of personal information gathered by the TTA needed to be "carefully considered" and "protections" must be built into the system.

Imagine what would happen if the operator of the Myki system decides to start stalking you himself?
Or what if they secretly sell your travel patterns to businesses?

Yes, this data is already out there. But the more places it's stored, the more points of failure there are where the system can be abused.

Sources:
ABC News
TheAge
Brisbanetimes

How Red Bull uses social media

During the previous week, me and Ratchsi had a chance to create a video for electronic marketing assignment. This video presents some interesting features of Red Bull's Facebook and Twitter that in fact really helps create value for its customers. By uses of games and interactive media, we must say it is really creative way to reinforce its brand image. Many businesses create their own facebook page, but how many of them were successful? - Red Bull has over 8 million fans.




Enjoy!

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Tips for Search-Tea-Optimization

Just for a quick post today, few days ago I’ve came across with one interesting website talking about how to increase the traffic to websites, and that is use Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to direct visitors to your website and ultimately purchase your product.

Imagine standing a day in heating sun, giving out flyers to people (who mostly will ignore you) so they could some visit the store. How about you just do some ‘clicks clicks,’ having prepared information and let them find you themselves. However, for that to work there are some simple do’s and don’ts that businesses should follow in order to optimize their search engine.

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Source: ecommercetimes

Sex-Tea Viral Marketing

Once in any man’s life, he must have searched the word “porn” online; 9 out of 10 children, ages 11-16, had viewed pornography on the internet, some might have even registered to specific porn sites to get the feeds, and I believe this is very common for all of us, men.

This video below presents some interesting facts about porn websites in the world.



Imagine an online market for more than half of 6 billion consumers; no doubt that this creates a huge channel for porn business ($3.9 billion in US, back in 2001, not including the free other downloads).

This even creates an e-marketing channel for related businesses like online dating and sexual drug etc. Have you ever noticed that when you’re searching for your torrents or files, there will always be cheeky advertisements on the banner and the right hand side of your screen? So what implications does it have on business?

Sex is everywhere… it stays in human life as a basic need, especially men. So I guess viral marketing campaign featuring some sexual appeal is not a bad idea.

Many businesses might feel reluctant to get their brand associate with the image of “sex” or “porn,” but I think there is nothing wrong about these words if they are used in a fashionable way. In fact, Lynx had used it to create a very effective viral marketing campaign in 2005; they integrated social media with all other traditional 30 communication channels. They also encourage consumers to speak through blogs, telephone and interactive websites etc. As a result the brand had gain huge publicity, awareness and media coverage.



However for some businesses, still, they must consider the appropriateness; whether the “sex” image can align with core brand value, otherwise, if they use it wrongly this might have a negative impact on their brand image.

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The Tea-Keyboard

Today, I recently heard about the development of a new technology by Microsoft which I think it would be nice to share with others.

This new technology is called the Adaptive keyboard. The keyboard’s transparent keys have a liquid-crystal display underneath which enables the key tops to change depending on what program the users are using. It replaces the same old experiences for those working at a desk with keyboards and mice all day. Without the need to even touch the mice, this surely increases our productivity. Just have a look in the video below.



This prototype might have an impact on how we handle our information in the future i.e. everything becomes a shortcut and easily managed; you can have more than two languages displaying on the keyboard; people might be able to make their own personalized letters; and perhaps change the way other Microsoft office operate. Evolving just from a simple type writer into a computer and now an adaptive keyboard in just 30 years, who knows what will be next in 10 years, just wait and see.

(source: microsofthardwareblog)

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