The application is designed to change the way that customers pay for purchases in popular locations.
Downtown has now unveiled its mobile payments app in an attempt to provide consumers with a new method of ordering and paying for their food in Palo Alto, in popular meeting spots such as the Coupa Café.
The primary difference that the wallet app could make is in the way consumers are paying for their purchases.
While it has become relatively commonplace to be able to order a meal at many quick service restaurants – particularly when it comes to delivery or take-out – the way that consumers pay for what they buy when they are actually inside a restaurant has stayed somewhat the same. However, Downtown is hoping that its new mobile payments app, which has recently been launched for iOS devices, in-store orders and transactions will be able to be made directly from an iPhone.
Despite the fact that mobile payments services have been slow to take off, companies are still looking for the perfect angle.
Consumers have not been adopting smartphone payments services as quickly as many mobile wallet companies had expected, but many believe that this is simply because the right convenient offering has not yet made it appealing enough for these options to be used. Downtown is using iBeacon technology to allow the restaurant to be able to detect exactly where a customer is sitting, so that he or she can use a smartphone to order food and pay for it, and the restaurant staff will know exactly where that customer is sitting so that it can be delivered directly to him or her.
Although this geolocation based order placing technology is starting off at shops such as cafes, the co-founders of downtown, Xavier de Ryckel, Phillip Buckendorf, and Max Noelle, intend to expand the use of this tech into other areas, as well. They are already planning to move the use of the service into restaurants and even food trucks over the next few months. So far, the mobile payments app is designed to be ideal for small purchases being made in person at Palo Alto businesses.
Society is becoming more mobile-centric on a seemingly daily basis. Smartphones and tablets are playing bigger roles in people’s daily lives, and this is becoming especially true as businesses and social organizations begin to become more mobile-centric themselves. The idea of mobility is quite attractive. In the past, people could only access the Internet and digital services from their desktop computers. Now, access to the digital world is everywhere and this constant connection has had a major impact on society as a whole.
Because of a constant connection to the Internet, people are generally more informed of a wide range of issues and are able to access information concerning global and local events. The advent of mobile technology has also enabled people to change the way they shop for products and engage with their friends and families. Technology has changed the way that society works within itself very quickly over the past few decades and new changes are beginning to occur as technology begins to play a more central role in the lives of people throughout the world.
One of the most apparent changes that technology is having on the world can be seen in the field of commerce. While people are still quite comfortable with paying for goods and services with physical currencies, they are growing more interested in the concept of mobile commerce. As such, many people are beginning to shop from their smartphones and tablets, purchasing products from these devices when they can find deals on products that they like.
Mobile commerce may soon come to define the retail sector and have major influence over how businesses connect with consumers. Many retailers are already working to engage mobile consumers more effectively. This involves them establishing a more active and prominent digital presence, something that retailers have not had to do in the past. Even companies like eBay and Amazon, which have a very powerful digital presence, are having to find new ways to engage mobile-centric people. There is, however, no definitive way to engage mobile consumers and find success. Because mobile commerce is a very fluid concept, consumers can quickly move from one retailer to the next, or from service to service, with relative ease.
The role of technology is society is ever changing and it is difficult to say for certain how technology will impact the world as a whole. Mobile technology has certainly had a measurable impact, especially over the past decade. This impact may become more pronounced as people become more reliant on technology.
