Verizon Wireless facing accusations of baring access to Google Wallet
Verizon Wireless has been making a name for itself in the realm of mobile commerce through the Isis platform. The company has been getting attention in the mobile commerce space for more than its participation in the Isis venture, however. Rumors have been circulating concerning the company’s restrictions concerning Google Wallet. According to these rumors, Verizon Wireless has barred all customers from accessing Google’s own mobile commerce platform. The telecommunications giant, however, suggests that this is not the case.
Company files report to the FCC
Verizon Wireless has delivered a report to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which regulations domestic and international communications via radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. In its report, Verizon Wireless claims that it has not taken any steps to restrict access to Google Wallet. The allegations concernng the company’s restrictions are likely linked to a problem with Google Wallet itself, rather than any action that Verizon Wireless has made.
Problems may lie with Google Wallet itself
Earlier this year, Verizon began releasing NFC-enabled smart phones to the market. At the time these devices were released, Google Wallet was not ready to be made available on these platform. This quickly changed, however, as Google pushed for inclusion into the Verizon Wireless network, making the Wallet application compatible with the company’s latest mobile devices. Problems began emerging as consumers found that they were unable to use Google Wallet, even though it was completely compatible with the device they purchased from Verizon Wireless.
Verizon suggests Google Wallet has yet to be approved for its security features
Verizon claims that the problem lies in the fact that Google has done little to gain approval for its mobile commerce application in terms of security. Verizon Wireless notes that Google Wallet’s security features require that it be approved by the company before it can be made widely available to customers. The company claims that Google is already well aware of this necessity, but that the technology giant has not yet sought approval for its mobile commerce platform.
Customer data gives merchants the ability to make their promotions an
d offers geographically relevant.
The use of smartphones and geolocation technology is giving retailers an entirely new angle for leveraging the geographical data of consumers so that they can provide them with marketing that will be more applicable to their unique wants and needs.
As mobile device penetration continues to increase, the opportunities for merchants are rapidly expanding.
An ever growing number of consumers is carrying smartphones wherever they go, which is providing retailers with geolocation data that has never been available to them at any other moment in history. However, aside from making it easier to actually reach those customers, these devices are also giving a potentially critical piece of information to companies about their customers and potential shoppers: their actual location.
A McKinsey Big Data report identified some of the larger potential benefits of geolocation.
That mobile marketing report indicated that over the next ten years, geolocation data will have the capability to form a massive $100 billion merely in the value that it offers service providers. An MIT Sloan Management Review editor named Renee Boucher Fergunson, who is also a researcher, explained that “geography is making a comeback.”
The latest in geolocation technologies is giving companies the opportunity to obtain vital data about their consumers, no matter where they may be. This, according to the SAP Retail program principal, Colin Haig. The NGDATA CEO, Luc Burgelman, expanded on this concept by saying that the pressure that retailers are currently facing in order to define themselves as unique within the marketplace is leaning increasingly toward methods that are geographically relevant.
That said, as is the case with other forms of data collection, retailers are being cautioned not to cross a certain line with geolocation techniques, and to steer clear of behaviors that could label them as having a Big Brother style agenda. It is important to collect this mobile commerce data, without overstepping boundaries that would lead consumers to feel that their trust has been abused. The result would only be negative as customers take specific actions to protect their information and block a specific company from being able to access it.
