Category: Gadgets

Wearable technology will be used by half of consumers for mobile payments

| January 14, 2016

Gartner has predicted that by 2018, about 50 percent of shoppers will use wearables or smartphones to pay for purchases.

Research firm, Gartner Inc., has released a recent prediction that wearable technology will play a tremendously larger role in mobile payments over the next few years, saying that half of all consumers will be using them or smartphones for that purpose by the close of 2018.

This forecast has come at a time in which mobile payments are still only just gaining initial adoption.

In markets such as Japan, North America and many countries throughout Western Europe, mobile payments remain a small but growing transaction technology. Gartner feels that by 2018, they will have become popular enough that fifty percent of consumers will be using their smartphones or wearable technology devices in order to complete transactions at checkout counters in retail stores and restaurants.

This also suggests that Gartner feels that wearable technology will also be growing in its popularity.

Wearable Technology NewsAccording to Gartner principal research analyst, Amanda Sabia, “Innovation in apps, mobile devices and mobile services are impacting traditional business models, particularly in the way people use personal technology for productivity and pleasure.” Sabia also pointed out the importance that product managers come to understand who these shoppers actually are when it comes to catering to new devices and providing services, while discovering just how those gadgets are being used by those customers. “Knowing your customer is imperative in order to capture a fair share of spending opportunities in this dynamic marketplace.”

There were three types of mobile payments that were described by Gartner within its recent report. It identified them as: wearables or smartphone based payments, branded mobile wallets from credit card issuers or banks, or branded mobile wallets from retailers.

Still, Gartner reported that those mobile payments services based on NFC technology – such as Android Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay – will remain limited throughout the length of the forecast period simply because the partnerships between retailers and financial organizations for using smartphones and wearable technology in that way will not yet have been established. Moreover, consumers have yet to see the value in that type of payment transaction.

Should mobile phones be banned in school? Research says “no”

| January 13, 2016

Professor Paul Howard-Jones has been speaking out against the banning of these devices in the classroom.

According to Academic, Professor Paul Howard-Jones, banning technology, such as mobile phones, in the classroom is “moving in the wrong direction” and parents should be paying closer attention to the way their children are interacting with other people and with their own tech.

Instead of trying to “demonize” these devices, the professor said it is more important to understand its use.

Howard-Jones cautioned that children are going to continue the use of mobile phones in the classroom regardless of what the rules say. Therefore, he feels it would be much more effective to allow the use and build an understanding of the way these mobile devices are being used by children. He explained that “I share concerns of parents about the effects of leisure technology on sleep and homework and exercise but it’s important that we don’t demonize it completely.”

Instead, Howard-Jones says parents should start looking at the ways their kids are using mobile phones.

Mobile Phones - SchoolThese statements about mobile devices were made by the professor at the same time that he released the results of one of his most recent studies, in which he discovered that playing computer games have the potential to boost the concentration levels among students, giving them an improved ability to better their grades. The research indicated that when learning is presented in game format, the mind of a student is less likely to wander, providing an improved ability to study.

Following this research, Howard-Jones said that over the last number of years, computer games have been “trivialized”, but that if they are properly implemented, they could actually help to enhance a student’s ability to learn. He stated that it is more important to understand the ways in which children are using mobile device and the internet. By banning these gadgets in the classroom, it makes it impossible to gain that information.

“We have to accept that technology is part of children’s lives. It isn’t about restricting it but about how they should be using it in a healthy way,” he said, when discussing the real-life implications of the results of his study.