New data is showing that many of the industry giants are making location based progress.
According to some of the latest information that has been released by ABI Research, a number of industry giants – including Google, Apple, and eBay – are placing their focus on making considerable moves into the realm of geolocation and its many possibilities.
Though this is not necessarily anything new, it is the fact that they are taking it indoors that is drawing attention.
To start, the estimates by ABI Research have suggested that the geolocation indoor market will be worth more than $4 billion by 2018. This was revealed in the quarterly Location Technologies Market Data which is issued by that agency. It provides a measure of the adoption of indoor geolocation technologies, mapping, as well as businesses that are making their way into this particular space.
By the end of next year, the overall market of geolocation technology installations will be greater than 25,000.
This, according to the ABI Research data that was released in the report. It also pointed out that smartphones that are capable of supporting indoor geolocation technology will have reached the hundreds of millions over the span of the next two years. The result is that virtually every major company will have begun to take considerable steps into this sphere.
Patrick Connolly, an ABI Research senior analyst, stated that “Apple’s new A7 co-processor coupled with the acquisition of WifiSLAM highlights indoor as a priority.” He went on to say that “Both Apple and eBay have announced support for dedicated BLE beacons, a technology that is set for a huge 2014 as major IC and device OEMs make it widely available.”
Connolly also explained that Google is maintaining an expansion of geolocation based indoor mapping and that it has been discussing some of its intentions for this technology quite openly at I/O. He also added that it isn’t just the smartphone manufacturers that are involved in this technology, as there have been four large AP providers (Motorola, Cisco, Ruckus, and Aruba) that have acquired business within this space. He noted that it was interesting to find that Nokia had held its own indoor and mapping capabilities, showing that this was being viewed as a region in which considerable future growth was possible.
An interview with Ralph Dangelmaier has revealed the critical importance of the smartphone experience.
While at the Money2020 event in Las Vegas, the editor of Mobile Commerce Press, Loreen Worden, had the opportunity to speak with Ralph Dangelmaier, the CEO of BlueSnap, a leading specialist in cart services, about mobile payments and optimization.
Within this interview, Dangelmaier revealed considerable insight into the essential nature of the smartphone channel.
At the moment, one of the largest struggles in mobile payments is the fact that many consumers are abandoning their shopping carts. According to many, including BlueSnap CEO Dangelmaier, this problem has a great deal to do with the fact that far too many retailers are failing to properly optimize their shopping cart experience. This causes consumers to feel that shopping over their smartphones and other small screen devices is inconvenient, difficult, and simply unattractive.
BlueSnap has presented a highly effective solution to this mobile payments struggle for businesses, large and small.
Within the interview with Dangelmaier, he revealed that BlueSnap is already managing to stand out in this highly competitive mobile payments marketplace with their optimized cart services. This is because they have taken the unique tack of partnering with a number of different banks and making their services available in approximately 180 different countries.
Therefore, BlueSnap has stepped away from the disconnected, confused nature of the mobile payments marketplace and has created an intelligent alternative that allows it to choose the bank that will provide the fastest and most convenient transaction for both the merchant and the consumer. For example, if a consumer in London is purchasing an intangible product – such as a digital item like a music file or an app – the best bank would be intelligently selected in order to ensure the transaction is completed at its fastest.
The company also goes above and beyond by consulting with each of its clients in order to discover which banks will provide the best mobile payments services for their specific products and needs. BlueSnap provides a seamless up-sell and consultation process with clients that makes certain that their shopping carts are always optimized for the best experience that is specific to their products. This is enhanced by a personal touch – which allows them to rise above the services provided by PayPal – and has allowed them to become experts in the best and fastest routing of transactions.
Having experienced the shopping cart and now mobile payments transaction optimization business for more than 8 years, BlueSnap has managed to keep ahead of the latest trends by observing and providing precisely what their clients want and need from the online and smartphone based experience. It is this type of strategy that will make the difference in keeping consumers from abandoning their carts and encouraging them to complete the process, giving conversions that much needed shot in the arm.
