OpinionLab sheds light on consumer feedback
OpinionLab, a leading provider of Voice of Customer feedback, has released its Holiday 2012 eCommerce Site Experience Findings study. The study focuses on shedding insight on the experiences that consumers had using mobile commerce and e-commerce platforms during their holiday shopping in 2012. Christmas has yet to arrive, so the study mostly accounts for the experiences consumers had during the Thanksgiving shopping weekend, which includes Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The study draws upon the information provided by more than 43,000 consumers.
Consumers favor tablets over smart phones
Mobile commerce had a strong showing during the holiday shopping season this year. Millions of consumers made use of their mobile devices in order to purchase the products that they wanted the most. According to OpinionLab, one theme dominated the feedback they received for the study: Most consumers favored their tablet device over their smart phones when shopping. The study notes that consumers using tablets were more satisfied with their shopping experience than those using smart phones.
Tablets are not ideal for commerce
Though consumers preferred their tablet devices, the study shows that tablets were most favored for shopping, not for actually purchasing products. The study indicates that more consumers used tablet devices to research products, price hunt, and browse online stores. Customer satisfaction begins to diminish when mobile transactions become involved, with consumers claiming that tablet devices are not well suited to take advantage of e-commerce platforms. Part of this may be due to the fact that e-commerce platforms are rarely optimized to be used on tablet devices.
2013 may be a great year for mobile commerce
Tablets are becoming more popular with consumers, presenting a promising opportunity for retailers and other businesses in terms of engagement. Tablets have already shown promising growth this holiday season and this momentum may well carry into next year. OpinionLab predicts that mobile commerce will have an even stronger performance in the 2013 holiday season than it did this year.
Developers find mobile security flaw with Samsung Android devices
Developers associated with XDA Developers, a mobile software development community with over 4 million users worldwide, have found a serious mobile security flaw in recent Samsung mobile devices. One developer, going by the username “Alephzain,” discovered that many Samsung devices that use Google’s Android operating system. The security flaw allowed Alephzain, as well as other developers, to access all of the physical memory contain within a Samsung device. Developers were able to access this memory because of an exploit that provided then with root level permissions.
Flaw could make information vulnerable to theft
Mobile security has been gaining serious attention lately, largely due to the types of information that are stored on mobile devices. A typical smart phone or tablet contains a user’s personal information, such as name, address, and birth date, all of which can be used in identity theft. Mobile devices are quickly becoming mobile payment platforms as well, which means they can store a user’s financial information, such as credit card and bank account numbers. This information is highly valuable to a hacker.
Galaxy S III among most vulnerable devices
According to XDA Developers, the Samsung devices that are most vulnerable are the Galaxy S III, the Galaxy S II, The Galaxy Note II, and Meizu MX. Devices that make use of the Exynos processor are also likely to have some degree of mobile security vulnerabilities. Several developers associated with the community have informed Samsung of the serious security flaw, with one going so far as to hack several mobile devices in order to prove that the flaw exists. There are no known Android malware applications that exploit this particular vulnerability.
Financial information could be at risk
Samsung’s Galaxy S III is one of the most popular smart phones in the world currently, having become a major competitor against the iPhone 5 shortly after its launch. Part of the reason the device is so popular is because of its use of NFC technology for data sharing and mobile commerce. When used to make payments, the device stores a consumer’s financial information. The glaring mobile security flaw that seems to have slipped past Samsung may have put the financial information of millions of Galaxy S III owners at risk.
