Author: Julie Campbell

IBM data shows that the companies that stand to benefit the most are not taking advantage of the opportunity.

According to data from IBM, manufacturers and retailers could take advantage of tremendous opportunities being offered by m-commerce, but are not prepared to do so to its fullest extent.

These organizations are not adequately positioned for effective movements within this environment.

According to IBM global electronics leader for global business services, Paul Brody, “I don’t think that either of them is well positioned to have a leadership position in the pocket of the consumer.” He expressed this opinion at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year. He gave the m-commerce example of Square, which is a technology provider that allows consumers to make mobile payments at stores using their smartphones. This would allow for a hands free transaction.

For m-commerce this is the “prototype for the always-on, zero user-interface experience,” said Brody.

He took the mobile payments example to the next level by saying “Now imagine this technology for comparison shopping,” and added that “You are in the grocery store and they send you a message saying, ‘Why don’t you grab that roll of toilet paper because it is cheaper than anywhere else.’ I’m not sure that the retailers and typical OEMs have the technology and experience to focus on mobile vehicles to do that.”

According to another speaker at CES, the interactive marketing firm, SapientNitro’s chief experience officer, Donald Chestnut, explained that the behaviors consumers while both online and in-store is quite different from the way that they shop when they are sitting at their home computers.

He elaborated by pointing out that there are big box retailers that are now looking into this behavior and that are making efforts to leverage it by providing their associates with iPads so that customers within the store will be able to gain more information from the employees.

A recent m-commerce survey conducted by SapientNitro and GfK Roper showed that 70 percent of American retailers would like to be able to boost their shopping experience in-store. That said, when smartphone owning consumers were asked what they wanted, their response was that they would like more mobile friendly store flyers, to have downloadable in-store navigation apps, and the ability to use their devices for making payments.

Sesame Street has just unveiled the first of multiple apps that will be released for children.

Today’s toddlers are using smartphones even before they know how to read, but Big Bird and the Sesame Street gang are now working together with augmented reality technology to help to close that gap with a fun and fascinating mobile experience for kids.

Preschoolers will be able to use the devices to help to recognize the sounds of written words.

This augmented reality innovation is a joint effort between the Sesame Workshop and Qualcom. Their “Big Bird’s Words” app was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show, where the beloved yellow character took center stage.

The augmented reality app is designed for children to use on their parents’ smartphones.

It allows kids to use augmented reality technology in order to discover words in the real world so that Big Bird can help to sound them out. When the child aims the device at the word, he or she can then listen as the Sesame Street character gives them a hint by providing the sound of the first letter and the sound of the word as a whole. For instance, when a child points at the word “Milk”, Big Bird would help out by saying “You found the word Milk! It starts with the letter M.”

The Big Bird’s Words app is expected to become available to the public in mid 2013. Though the augmented reality application won’t be available for a few months, it will be the first of at least two releases by Sesame Street, aimed at preschoolers. Another app that can be expected following the initial release will be “Abby’s Fairy Rock”, which will feature that far newer, but highly beloved character.

According to the Dave Glauber, form the Content Lab at the Sesame Workshop, during his keynote, “We know that kids are entering kindergarten with a vocabulary gap.” It was during this speech that the augmented reality smartphone app was first presented by Qualcomm. Glauber proceeded to explain that “With this app we can introduce kids to words wherever they are and give them an understanding of what those words mean.”