Category: Gadgets

Mobile technology is headed to more Disney parks

| May 29, 2015

The announcement was made at the New Fantasyland ribbon-cutting ceremony in Disney World, Florida.

Disney has implemented a billion dollar mobile technology system in many of its different theme parks in order to help its guests to be able to reduce the length of time that they spend standing in line, and to be able to pay for the items that they want at the gift shops.

Now, it will be expanding this mobile tech to reach into other parts of its Disney resorts and parks.

The MyMagic+ $1 billion program uses mobile technology build into wristbands and an app that make it possible for guests at Walt Disney world resorts and parks to be able to pay for food and merchandise, open their hotel room doors, book their ride times, and even make meal reservations at restaurants. This makes it possible for the guests to book more of the different parts of their trips in advance, to reduce waiting time, personalize their visits, and allow them to move through the park more quickly, without delays.

So far, there have been more than 11 million of the mobile technology wristbands (MagicBands) used.

According to Tom Staggs, the chief operating officer, “The folks who are saying the MyMagic+ experience is excellent is the vast, vast majority of folks who are using it, and that, we know, is good for our business.” Staggs was speaking from the Disneyland Resort at an apartment once occupied by Walt Disney, during the 60th anniversary year of that park.

Staggs had been the head of the Disney parks and resorts division from 2010 until February 2015, when he became the COO. It is believed that he will be next in line for the CEO position when the current chief exec, Bob Iger, steps down in 2018.

One of the many ways in which Disney intends to continue the growth of its business is to ensure that it keeps on top of the latest in wearable and mobile technology. According to Staggs, they intend to continue to bring additional versions of MyMagic+ to their different parks and their other businesses across the globe.

Google says mobile ads benefit from gadgets with larger screens

| May 28, 2015

As the focus shifts to a multi device experience the search engine giant is making a number of considerable discoveries.

Mobile ads are a relatively recent component of the overall strategy at Google and, following its recent shift to focus on being more friendly to smartphones and tablets, and the technology giant has been developing a massive amount of insight about this advertising channel, particularly since “mobile-geddon”.

This insight seems to be guiding the company well, according to its senior vice president of ads and commerce.

That individual, Sridhar Ramaswamy, has explained that the company is handing its move to a multi device experience well. He has pointed out that selling mobile ads to advertisers could be more challenging when the majority of those advertisements end up on mobile devices, because they have screens that are smaller than standard desktops and laptops. Marketers hesitate because many consumers find it to be a hassle, or not adequately secure to follow an ad to the point that they will actually make a purchase.

However, Google is working hard to make sure that it can halt the slipping prices of its mobile ads.

Mobile Ads Benefit from Larger Screens - iPad TabletThe Wall Street Journal recently released a report that underscored Google’s efforts to improve the value of its advertising options. It has found that it can greatly benefit from the recent shift in the mobile technology toward the use of devices with larger screens.

Two of the devices that have effectively shown that consumers are interested in smartphones and mobile devices that have larger screens include the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which were launched by Apple, last fall. Similarly, the flagship Google smartphone that was recently released, the Nexus 6, features a large 5.9 inch screen.

While addressing the topic of mobile ads, Ramaswamy said that “As phones get bigger the space issue becomes less challenging.” He added that “This is essentially a tablet. People’s ability to navigate sites and fill out forms and such goes up tremendously,” as he withdrew his own Nexus 6 device to illustrate the point that he was making. These larger screen size trends, combined with the new data storage at Google, described in another Wall Street Journal report, indicate that the company is making every effort to overcome the decreasing willingness of marketers to pay for advertising on mobile screens.