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184 Part 1 Introduction
Bluecasting has also caused concern over permission where the user does not proactively
agree to receive communications as with the examples above, but instead the message is sent
Bluejacking to any local mobile where Bluetooth is set up to detect connections. Bluejacking involves
Sending a message from sending a message from a mobile phone (or other transmitter) to another mobile phone
a mobile phone or
transmitter to another which is in close range and set up to connect with other bluetooth devices such as from a
mobile phone which is in store to customers.
close range via Bluetooth Bank HSBC used this approach in a 2007 trial to offer one of its investment products to
technology.
passers-by to its Canary Wharf branch who had their phones set to receive Bluetooth messages.
The risks of this approach can be seen from the write-up in Finextra which was headlined
‘HSBC spams passersby in mobile marketing ploy’. Although the UK Information Commissioner
has acknowledged that the technique isn’t covered adequately by privacy rules, obviously care
needs to be taken since this technique could be seen as intrusive.
Google is also innovating in this area. You may have read of its first forays into Google
Classifieds where ads are placed in newspapers and magazines or Google Audio ads where
you can place ads across US radio stations. But did you read about the trial of an interactive
Debate 3.3 billboard where an eye-tracking technology was used to measure the
number of eyeballs viewing the ad? You can see the next steps would be
Predicting the future of the mobile
Internet iris recognition technology identifying the passer-by from a global con-
sumer database and then tailoring ads.
‘Future-generation mobile access
devices using such technologies as 3G The advent of new mobile technologies for customers to access con-
will supersede PCs as the main tent poses a difficult dilemma for organizations that have adopted
consumer access device for the e-commerce since, to be competitive, the decision to adopt must be made
Internet within 5 years.’
before the extent of its impact is apparent. These issues apply, in particular,
to business-to-consumer companies since the content made available for
new access devices has mainly been targeted at consumers. Imagine you are the e-commerce
manager or brand manager at a consumer company: what would be the benefits and
drawbacks of updating your e-commerce systems to m-commerce? The benefits of deciding
to invest could include:
Early-mover advantage
Learning about the technology
Customer acquisition
Customer retention
Improving corporate or brand image.
However, it will be difficult to estimate the number of new customers who may be acquired
and the profitability of the project may be sacrificed to achieve the other benefits above. As
new technologies become available, companies need to assess the technology, understand
the services that may be relevant to their customers and work out a strategy and implemen-
tation plan. It also becomes necessary to support development across multiple platforms, for
example retailers such as WH Smith Online use a database to generate book catalogue con-
tent for display on web, mobile or interactive digital TV platforms.
Although it may appear there is a divergence in access devices from PC to phone to TV, in
Technology the long term most commentators expect technology convergence to occur.
convergence Mougayer (1998) identifies different types of convergence:
A trend in which different
hardware devices such as Infrastructure convergence – this is the increase in the number of delivery media channels
TVs, computers and
phones merge and have for the Internet such as phone lines, microwave (mobile phones), cable and satellite. These
similar functions. are now often being used in combination.
Information appliance (technology) convergence – the use of different hardware devices to
access and deliver the content of the Internet.
Supplier convergence – the overlap between suppliers such as Internet service providers, online
access providers and more traditional media suppliers such as the telecommunications and
cable companies.