Author: Lucy

Augmented reality is bringing fitness to mobile gaming

| May 12, 2013

Augmented Reality Fitness Mobile GamesThis state of the art technology is makes these games available on smartphones and tablets.

Fitness games have become very popular on consoles, but now the concept is available through mobile gaming because of the addition of augmented reality into the field.

Now, fitness apps are available to be played on smartphones and tablets in addition to PCs.

Until now, console games have required physical controllers or the Kinect motion sensor equipment, for example, in order to detect movements. However, through the use of augmented reality apps, the camera features in smartphones and tablets have made it possible for mobile gaming to offer this same type of fitness opportunity.

The device cameras include the player into the augmented reality environment for a similar experience.

The very first app to take advantage of the augmented reality mobile gaming alternative to fitness console games is an application called BallStrike. This app is available at the Windows 8 store for devices that run on that operating system. It is also now available for Android and iOS devices. This game requires the player to punch and explode a number of balls that appear on the screen around a live image of the player. The premise is to encourage the player to move around so that he or she will become more fit over time. The application displays an estimated number of calories burned throughout the game.

To make sure that the augmented reality experience is as accurate as possible, the player must stand about 1.5 meters (5 feet) away from the device camera. The distance needs to be judged so that the entire person can fit on the screen. At that point, the “boxing” session starts. It starts off at a fun and easy learning level, but as the player progresses, the difficulty increases.

Another addition to the augmented reality fitness mobile gaming marketplace is Fuego’s River Adventure. This is currently available for iPad users, only. It is a combination of a fitness app and an arcade game in which the player floats down a river on a raft, and the user has to avoid obstacles. This requires the user to jump around in front of the device and, presumably, burn calories in so doing.

Mobile marketing proves successful in Indonesia

| May 10, 2013

Grocery Mobile MarketingA grocery store in the country used a smartphone friendly campaign very effectively.

Although mobile marketing in store has become an increasingly common occurrence in the United States, this has not yet become the case in Indonesia, although a grocery store there has now shown that it can be accomplished very effectively and successfully.

Over 1,000 people visited the smartphone friendly website every day throughout the campaign.

This has shown that the Indonesian marketplace does have room for successful mobile marketing campaigns such as those that are produced with American shoppers in mind. For instance, Staples is actively encouraging shoppers to download its app and use it in store in order to obtain a larger number of savings opportunities.

That company uses mobile marketing at the checkout counter to advertise the app and its benefits.

When shoppers use that app to check into a store, he or she can receive mobile marketing offers while they’re right there in front of the products. This can include discount opportunities such as coupons that can be used during that specific trip to the store. Other similar techniques that have been used by retailers include QR codes that can be scanned for coupons and discount opportunities, or texting a special word to a short code for similar offers.

The Matahari Food Business in Indonesia is taking advantage of this same type of mobile marketing technique and is spreading the trend across the country in its 90 different retail outlets. During a three month trial that was held in those stores in the country from October through December, last year, shoppers were encouraged to enter a short code into a specific kind of search engine – a TMS search – which is specifically designed for smartphone advertising campaigns.

Once the short code is entered into the mobile marketing search, the consumer is redirected to the smartphone website for the Matahari Food Business, where various special offers such as coupons and discounts become available to users who register for free by entering their name, gender, age, mobile number, and email address. With that information, the offers made to the consumer can be selected specifically for that individual.