Tag: mobile commerce news

Boxed puts a new spin on mobile commerce

| August 27, 2013

Mobile commerce startup breaks the mold

A new mobile commerce startup called Boxed aims to make wholesale goods more easily obtainable for consumers. Typically, people have to go to large, membership-based department stores in order to purchase bulk goods at low prices, but these stores do not exist on every corner. Consumers can typically find a wide variety wholesale goods online, but the costs associated with shipping these goods mitigates any savings they could see. Boxed intends to change this by offering consumers with a way to purchase and receive wholesale products at a low cost.

Boxed provides free shipping to orders over $75

Boxed officially launched this week and is currently restricted to the eastern half of the U.S. Using the application, consumers can purchase a wide variety of products and have these products shipped directly to their home. Orders exceeding $75 will receive free, two-day shipping. The concept behind Boxed is to provide consumers with all the convenience of a wholesale department store without the auxiliary expenses associated with such stores.

Mobile Commerce - Boxed appCompany holds its own inventory

Boxed is not just a mobile commerce platform. Behind the application, the company boasts of its own warehouse that stores approximately 500 unique products at any given time. This is somewhat different from the trend that has emerged in the mobile commerce scene. Companies like eBay and Google have been partnering with retailers in order to provide expedited shipping of products without actually having to keep their own inventories. Boxed, however, believes that holding its own inventory and fulfilling shipments is a better way to provide consumers with the services they are interested in.

Mobile commerce continues to evolve

Many trends have begun to emerge in the mobile commerce sector, but mobile commerce cannot be defined by any of these trends on their own. The constant evolution of the mobile space has provided mobile commerce with a lot of room to grow and companies like Boxed have been able to exploit this to their advantage. Boxed aims to offer a new service to consumers that may appeal to people’s interest in convenience and efficiency.

Biometrics may bring Apple into mobile commerce

| August 26, 2013

Apple could enter into mobile commerce arena with biometric technology

Apple may be gearing up to make a strong push into the mobile commerce sector. The company has had an interest in mobile payments for some time, but has taken a cautious approach to mobile commerce due to concerns regarding NFC technology. Apple had claimed that the technology was simply not capable to meet its needs and had been looking for an effective alternative. The company may have found that alternative in biometrics.

AuthenTec technology may be a boon for Apple

In 2012, Apple acquired AuthenTec, a company that had specialized in using biometric technology for security purposes. The acquisition gave Apple access to the company’s technology and enables Apple to make use of this technology as it sees fit. AuthenTec’s fingerprint sensors were particularly attractive to Apple, which believes such technology could be an effective way to make mobile commerce more secure. Such technology could also make security for mobile devices somewhat more convenient as it would eliminate the need for consumers to input their passwords multiple times a day.

Apple - mobile commerce and mobile paymentsiPhone 5S photos suggest changes to hardware

Apple is expected to release the iPhone 5S later this year and leaked images of the device have recently found their way to the Internet. These images show some modest changes to iPhone hardware, suggesting that there may be room for biometric technologies and other, similar features. There is no guarantee that this will be the case, of course, as Apple has a track record of making drastic renovations to iPhone hardware before the official launch of a new generation of these devices.

Apple shows some interest in mobile commerce

Rumors had suggested that the iPhone 5 would be equipped with NFC technology, but Apple dispelled these rumors and garnered harsh criticism from consumers due to the fact that the device did not feature NFC support. The lack of NFC technology has kept the iPhone 5 from serving as a mobile commerce platform. This has set Apple somewhat behind other companies in this sector, but Apple may soon be able to make a powerful entry into mobile commerce if its biometrics initiatives are successful.