Australian mobile commerce app runs into trouble

Australia’s Commonwealth Bank recently released its CommBank mobile application that was meant to usher in a new era of mobile commerce throughout the country. The application, however, may not be able to accomplish such an ambitious task because of its use of NFC technology and the fact that it is available specifically for the Samsung Galaxy S4. While NFC has formed the backbone of mobile commerce for some years, the technology is not widely available on mobile devices, making it difficult for many consumers to take advantage of NFC-enabled applications.

Consumers have trouble getting app to work properly

NFC-dependance is not the only problem that the CommBank app has had to deal with. Even users with Galaxy S4 devices have been reporting a great deal of frustration when trying to get the application working properly. According to many consumers, initiating a mobile payment using the application is quite difficult. Moreover, before the application can be used, consumers must input their financial information, such as a credit card number. The application is often unable to store this information or consumers have found great difficulty in actually linking this information to the application itself.

Mobile commerce continues to contend with problems

Mobile commerce in general has been beset by technical problems for nearly as long as it has existed as a concept. Applications designed as commerce platforms are not perfect and glitches in these platform’s abilities to retain information are somewhat common. Hastily developed applications are more susceptible to failure that those that have been in development for prolonged periods of time, but any kind of application that offers lackluster service can provide consumers with a poor experience.

Consumers run into issues when purchasing from retailers

The CommBank application is also being beset by some unforeseeable problems. Some consumers have reported that retail employees have denied accepting mobile payments, simply because these employees are not yet acclimated to the idea of paying for products using a mobile device. Awareness is often a problem when it comes to the adoption of new technology and unforeseeable issues concerning awareness are difficult to prepare for.

The deal was just publicly confirmed between TapJoy and Nido Labs and its popular fitness apps.

A partnership has just been formed between the popular mobile marketing network, Tapjoy, and the creator of Alpha Trainer, Nido Labs, in order to provide consumers with an entirely new way to sign up for their own workout programs.

There is tremendous potential in this deal as Tapjoy already reaches up to 435 million people every month.

This, in combination with the fact that Nido Labs’s Alpha Trainer is among the highest grossing mobile fitness applications currently available, means that the mobile marketing network partnership is a powerful one. It will also mean that consumers will have a new opportunity to obtain an advanced 14 week long workout program that will be sent to them directly through their smartphones or tablets.

The purpose of the mobile marketing network partnership is to help users keep in budget while staying in shape.

This, according to the announcement that was made to inform the public of the new partnerships. Effective right away, the Alpha Trainer app’s Android version is now integrated into the model for the Tapjoy Mobile Value Exchange, in which consumers earn virtual rewards by engaging with the ads that they receive on their mobile devices. By doing so, they gain access to various different kinds of digital rewards. In this case, it means that they can use the massive database of more than 100,000 customized workout programs that are being labeled as professional quality.

The joint statement that was released by Tapjoy and Nido Labs, expressed that “This partnership follows a trend of content verticals embracing the rewarded advertising model and marks a shift in how fitness programs are made available to consumers”. This will also place Alpha Trainer among the first personal fitness and training applications that provides a value exchange and virtual rewards model that will allow its users to be able to obtain a 14 week workout program of a professional quality.

The mobile marketing network program is also working on establishing alternative payment methods so that customized programs can also be customized.