The daily deals giant is working on clawing its way back to relevance with the “Gnome”.
Groupon, the massive daily deals website that had been a tremendous success before it nearly brought itself to the point of annihilation, has entered into the mobile payments market in an effort to try to restore some of its former victories in the online world.
It is hoping that its new Gnome point of sale (POS) system will be its new road to glory.
This launch represents the first time that Groupon has moved into the mobile payments POS market. Its Gnome is a platform that is based on the iPad. It is designed to be a solution that will eliminate the requirement for using paper coupons that must be clipped and submitted by the shopper. However, this is also supposed to represent the end of having to display a discount coupon on a smartphone screen at a physical retailers checkout counter, as well.
The Gnome platform uses Bluetooth to be able to apply the discounts at the mobile payments terminal.
The pronunciation of the platform’s name is “G-nome”, as opposed to pronouncing it with a silent “G” as in the tiny fantasy people. Aside from using Bluetooth, the customer’s name can also be used for the redemption of Groupon vouchers at a merchant’s location. It also allows the business to be able to use social media such as Facebook and Twitter to be able to share customer feedback.
Groupon’s CEO, Eric Lefkofsky, explained this new platform by saying that “When it’s complete, Gnome will serve as an operating system for merchants to run their entire operation and enable them to create real-time promotions that bring customers into their business when they need them the most.”
He added that this mobile payments platform is “an important step” for the company to be able to achieve its “long-term mission” of designing a way for the merchants around the world will be able to remain continually connected to the local commerce platform at Groupon. The Gnome device will become available within the next few months, according to the announcement from the company.
This, according to the CEO at Intel who spoke at the Maker’s Faire.
Brian Krzanich, the chief executive officer of Intel Corp, spoke at the Maker’s Faire in San Mateo, California, spoke about wearable technology at the annual event and said that the chipmaker giant is looking to individual inventors for the next big discovery in wearables, particularly in the area of smart clothing.
As smartphone sales start reduce in acceleration, wearables may increase in importance.
Intel feels that wearable technology based computing devices – which is a broad category that takes in a range of different kinds of mobile gadget such as smartwatches, fitness trackers, augmented reality glasses, smart clothing, and other types of tech – may become the next large personal computing trend. However, despite the fact that this year is supposed to be the year of wearables, the products that have already launched, such as fitness bands and smartwatches, have yet to truly take off. This, despite the large brand names attached to them, such as Samsung.
Krzanich feels that the best wearable technology innovations will come from individual inventors.
He stated that it will likely come in the form of smart clothes and that it will be these individual inventors who will be paying attention to their own needs and will, therefore, be more aware of what the consumer is actually seeking. It will be these individuals who will detect the true problem and find the solution for consumers considering the purchase of wearables.
Krzanich stated that “The trick to making the perfect wearable is going to be when you figure out what problems you’re trying to solve, and I don’t think you’re going to be able to build a wearable that does it all for everyone.” He then added “Who better to design the next athletic wearable than an athlete?”
The San Mateo open air event was attended by thousands of people, giving attendees the opportunity to find out what is happening in wearable technology at the moment and to discover what developments have come about. Everything from flying drone demos to voice activated robots were being shown, that day.
