Tag: mobile payments

Mobile applications are beginning to play a major role in commerce

Mobile wallets may soon be in a position to replace their traditional counterparts. Mobile technology is becoming an increasingly integral part of society, and many people are beginning to rely on their smartphones and tablets in their daily lives. This means that mobile devices are becoming repositories of consumer information, including financial data. These devices are also storing information coming from businesses, such as digital coupons and other such offers from retailers and other organizations.

Mobile wallet applications are becoming more common among consumers of all kinds

Mobile wallets are simple applications that are designed to store financial information, making it easier for consumers to purchase products online and at physical stores from their mobile devices. These applications have become somewhat popular among consumers, but no single application has managed to win the favor of the majority of people in any given demographic. Consumers favor moving from one application to the next, making use of multiple apps that suit their needs effectively at any given moment. Some, however, have settled on the apps that they find most useful, keen to make use of these mobile wallets more than they use traditional forms of currency and credit cards.

Starbucks shows off how mobile apps can be used to generate more commerce activity

Starbucks is, perhaps, one of the best examples of the success that a company can find in engaging mobile consumers with wallet applications. Approximately 14% of all transactions made at Starbucks stores come from mobile devices, according to the company’s CEO, Howard Schultz. These transactions are coming from the company’s own mobile application, which is designed to facilitate mobile payments.

Some companies are having trouble finding a foothold in mobile commerce with their own wallet applications

Other companies working to find success in the mobile commerce space have had trouble finding traction with their mobile wallet applications. Google is one such company. In the early days of Google Wallet, the platform was crippled by security issues that drove consumers to use other applications. Other organizations have faced similar problems, as well.

The daily deals giant is working on clawing its way back to relevance with the “Gnome”.

Groupon, the massive daily deals website that had been a tremendous success before it nearly brought itself to the point of annihilation, has entered into the mobile payments market in an effort to try to restore some of its former victories in the online world.

It is hoping that its new Gnome point of sale (POS) system will be its new road to glory.

This launch represents the first time that Groupon has moved into the mobile payments POS market. Its Gnome is a platform that is based on the iPad. It is designed to be a solution that will eliminate the requirement for using paper coupons that must be clipped and submitted by the shopper. However, this is also supposed to represent the end of having to display a discount coupon on a smartphone screen at a physical retailers checkout counter, as well.

The Gnome platform uses Bluetooth to be able to apply the discounts at the mobile payments terminal.

The pronunciation of the platform’s name is “G-nome”, as opposed to pronouncing it with a silent “G” as in the tiny fantasy people. Aside from using Bluetooth, the customer’s name can also be used for the redemption of Groupon vouchers at a merchant’s location. It also allows the business to be able to use social media such as Facebook and Twitter to be able to share customer feedback.

Groupon’s CEO, Eric Lefkofsky, explained this new platform by saying that “When it’s complete, Gnome will serve as an operating system for merchants to run their entire operation and enable them to create real-time promotions that bring customers into their business when they need them the most.”

He added that this mobile payments platform is “an important step” for the company to be able to achieve its “long-term mission” of designing a way for the merchants around the world will be able to remain continually connected to the local commerce platform at Groupon. The Gnome device will become available within the next few months, according to the announcement from the company.