Author: Dan Gendro

Mobile commerce in Russia parallels that of Western Europe

| February 25, 2015

The results of a PayPal study are suggesting that people are smartphone shopping trends are quite similar.

PayPal, the online payments giant, has released the results of a recent study on mobile commerce, which showed that the use of smartphones and tablets for shopping in Russia is almost popular as this trend in Europe.

The results of the study were put out in a PayPal press release which compared the mobile shopping trends.

According to the head of PayPal Russia, Vladimir Malyugin, “Russian internet users are no different from other consumers in the major e-commerce markets, and they are increasingly using [mobile devices] to purchase goods and make payments — it’s faster and more convenient.” The survey was conducted in conjunction with Ipsos, a market research service. It looked into the behaviors of 17,500 consumers throughout 22 different countries, in terms of their shopping behaviors. Among those respondents were 793 people who resided in Russia, as of October of last year.

The research found that mobile commerce was used by Russians for an average of 2.6 purchses per month.

Study for Mobile CommerceIn Western Europe, the average number of purchases per month was quite similar, at three. When it came to sales completed specifically by way of tablets, Western Europe was only just slightly ahead of Russia, at 2.4 sales per month, compared to 2.38 sales per month, respectively, said the report.

Furthermore, the users of mobile devices in Russia were willing to purchase a broader range of different types of product and service when using those gadgets. Among smartphone owners, 25 percent said that they would be willing to purchase something within a brick and mortar store through the use of their device. Another 22 percent said that they would be willing to make reservations, or that they would order a meal ahead of their arrival, through their smartphone.

As a part of the mobile commerce trend as a whole, using smartphones to complete payments transactions was also appealing to many Russians. In 2010, mobile payments represented only 1 percent of the full e-commerce market in the country, whereas last year, that figure had made it to 20 percent, said the report.

Augmented reality glasses from Sony are attractive and coming soon

| February 23, 2015

The wearable technology gadget will be sold for $840 and has been receiving high praise for its style.

Sony has been tossing various ideas for augmented reality headsets around for the last while, in order to provide competition for the Google Glass, but now that the competition has taken a step back, it appears to be a strong time to be able to launch its own device into the market.

For a while, Sony had been thinking about a type of clip-on headset but now it will be a full set of glasses.

The SmartEyeGlass SED-E1 Developer Edition is not yet a consumer product, but it was previewed a number of months ago and it will be arriving in ten different countries. As of March, it will be available in those nations for $840 (¥100,000 yen, or €670). Sony is calling its augmented reality glasses “holographic waveguide technology” that is built into 3mm AR lenses that are worn like typical eyeglasses and that display content directly in the eye line of the wearer.

These augmented reality glasses from Sony are not the first entrance of the brand into wearable technology.


That said, it is the first step into the market in the form of glasses. A demo video for the device was recently released to provide more details about the gadget. This device is moving forward at a time in which the industry is still waiting for the HoloLens from Microsoft, as well as the next version of Glass, the current version of which is no longer being manufactured.

The SmartEyeGlass SED-E1 looks notably more like HoloLens than Glass, as it has a basic green monochrome text display and an up to 15fps diagram display. It also has a3MP camera built into it, making it possible for video and pictures to be taken. This makes it possible for developers to use images taken through the wearable technology in the creation of their apps.

These augmented reality glasses are compatible with Android smartphones and feature a speaker, microphone, battery (providing 80 minutes of life when the camera is active, and 150 minutes without it), Bluetooth, touch controls, and NFC technology.