Author: Dan Gendro

Geolocation technology to provide massive feature range at SXSW festival

| March 6, 2015

There will be over 1,000 Apple iBeacons installed throughout the event for a spectrum of alerts, meet-ups, and other info.

This year, the SXSW music festival, which is taking place in Austin, Texas, will use geolocation technology in order to provide its attendees with a wide range of different types of onsite features, so that the people in attendance will always know exactly what is going on, and where they want to be.

The location based tech will offer alerts, information about meet-ups, and additional ways to connect with people.

This will be accomplished through the installation of iBeacons. That geolocation technology was first used by the event, last year, but to a much more limited degree. This year, though, the organizers have significantly boosted their use of location based tech. The Gimbal-created iBeacons use Bluetooth Low Energy to be able to give people attending the festival a whole new way to make connections with other people who are closeby.

The new SXSW Go app will include an “Around Me” feature based on geolocation tech so users can interact.

Geolocation Technology - SXSW Music FestivalThat feature will make it possible for the mobile app users to be able to introduce themselves to other people who are close by, through a quick message. This will help other people who use the same application to be able to find them and meet them if that is what they want to do. This iBeacon based feature has cross-platform support, being compatible with recent Apple iPads and iPhones 4S and newer, as well as the Android based Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5 and the Nexus 5 and 6.

Users of the app will also be able to receive location based alerts and messages about who may have recently arrived at the festival and who can be found nearby. The iBeacons and the Bluetooth Low Energy technology are the same type of tech that Apple uses within its own retail stores so that it can provide customers with the latest updates, product reviews, and even upgrade eligibility for their devices.

To make this geolocation technology work, event attendees will need to download and launch the app, and ensure that their Bluetooth and proper notifications are enabled.

Mobile wallet partnership formed between Neiman Marcus and Capital One

| March 3, 2015

The retailer has decided to take its own direction instead of choosing to accept payments through Apple Pay.

Neiman Marcus, the luxury retailer, has now joined forces with Capital One in order to create its own mobile wallet so that its credit card customers will be able to use an app on their smartphones in order to pay for purchases while in store.

At first, the mobile app will be available only as an iOS application, so it will be for iPhone users.

This mobile wallet app will integrate with a number of different credit cards, including the Neiman Marcus card, in addition to Bergdorf Goodman, American Express, MasterCard, Visa, and Discover. Similar to Apple Pay, it will make it possible for customers to be able to buy items, in-store, without having to use their actual plastic credit cards. At the moment, the app won’t support the use of gift cards.

This helps to explain why Neiman Marcus chose not to sign on with the Apple Pay mobile wallet.

Mobile Wallet PartnershipIt is clear that the retailer preferred to create its own competing mobile payments platform. That said, what is quite interesting about this application, and what makes it very different from Apple Pay is that it is compatible with more versions of the smartphone. At the moment, Apple Pay can be used only with the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus. However, the mobile payments wallet from Neiman Marcus will be available to users of several different versions of that iOS based smartphone.

While Apple Pay may be the most well recognized and visible smartphone wallet, there isn’t a single app in this space that has reached the point that it can say that it can block out most other competing applications that are hoping to make their way into this space.

Neiman Marcus isn’t the only one to choose not to sign on with Apple and that has decided to create its own mobile wallet. Starbucks – the company that is typically considered to be the most successful mobile payments venture in the United States – has also done so, as have Walmart, Exxon Mobil, 7-Eleven, and Southwest Airlines.