Visa Gets into the App Game with New Trends Instead of New Technology

Visa has announced that its official iPhone App is available for free in the iTunes App Store. Essentially, it uses deals from a handful of partners and location-based technology.

If you're a Visa Cardholder and download this App, you will receive customized offers that can be redeemed online or in brick-and-mortar stores. The App will also give you a map and directions for locating retail outlets where you can redeem their offers, and it will also help you find nearby ATMs (nice experiential play, but does leading customers to ATMs make business sense? Maybe there are more cash advances on Visa cards than I think).

Visa is currently working with around 50 hand-picked retailers, including 24 Hour Fitness, Meineke, New York & Company, Holiday Inn, Hard Rock Café and Zales.

As for the customization, you will be able to select from a handful of categories to personalize the offers you receive, such as clothing, jewelry, travel, dining, entertainment, and other retail goods. And account holders with Visa Signature cards will get extra special offers in addition to the offers available to all Visa account holders (nice loyalty play for their best customers). 

Frankly, this is cool, but I think it falls flat. It's nice to see Visa get into the Apps game, but this really feels like a combination of a mini-Groupon and Google Maps, with an added customization touch. Unfortunately, it seems like the customization is self-reported and not served up from learned behaviors. 

If Visa could sign on all of their partners, enable me to make my purchases through my iPhone (a technology will be the next big thing, my guess, in 2011 and 2012), and customize offers based on the tracking of those other purchases...then I would be impressed. That would be an App that everyone would want and eventually think they needed. 

I won't be downloading this App, but I'm sure some people will. Are you one of those people? Would you use this App? ~ p

Spooky Time-Traveling Cell Phone User...Real or Fake?

I don't get scared. I'm not bragging, I just literally don't get creeped out by Halloween movies or gory costumes or, well, anything. Heights can sometimes freak me out. And I'll sometimes 'jump' if you can startle me. But that's about it. Knowing this, to get my adrenaline going, I like unusual, interesting stuff that makes me ask questions, like magic tricks. This video falls into that category.

Irish filmmaker George Clarke created a YouTube video that has gone viral this week. It shows a cellphone-using “time traveler” attending the 1928 premiere of Charlie Chaplin’s The Circus.

I watched it, and it's very convincing. Who knows? It could even be 'real'. But, with that time traveler theory, as I often do, I started to ask questions, like 'Who is on the other end of the phone?', 'How does a cell phone work when cell phone towers haven't been invented yet?', and 'Does her cell phone company charge her for long distance minutes?'

Also interesting is the profession of the guy who 'found' this gem. He's a filmmaker. Is it possible this has been fixed? Likely.

Or maybe, in the words of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'

Take a look and judge for yourself. ~ p

Buy Your Friend a Starbucks on Facebook

Starbucks has done a lot of things right in the past couple years. I credit Howard Schultz for most of this shift, as they went from a possible headliner in Jim Collins book 'How the Mighty Fall', to a powerhouse brand (again) since he took back the CEO position in January of 2008. In that time, I have read and written countless cases on what Starbucks has done as leaders in not just Quick Service Retail, but as a global brand and company. 

One of the cases I've talked about the most has been mystarbucksidea.com. This site gives customers and brand advocates a forum to share how they think Starbucks could be an better experience and company. Other site members vote on their favs and then...Starbucks will execute them. Awesome use of transparency, and consumer to brand integration. The latest idea to emerge from mystarbucksidea.com is the new 'Give a Gift' feature on the Starbucks Card Facebook application that lets users in the U.S. and Canada load between $5 and $500 to a friend's registered Starbucks Card.



“It’s great to bring another customer-inspired idea to life that enhances the customer experience in our coffee houses and within our digital communities. The new ‘Give a Gift’ feature on the Starbucks Card App provides a quick, fun gifting solution for our customers who want to surprise a friend on any occasion,” says Chris Bruzzo, Starbucks’s vice president for brand, content and online.

Starbucks has strong FB presence with more than 15 million fans, or 'likes'. Last time I checked, that was the most for any brand on Facebook. ~ p

(Source: mashable.com)

FBG takes on BBM...OMG.

Want to share something on Facebook, but you can't because your boss or your girlfriend's mother somehow became your friend along the way? Yeah, I think we've all been there. This has no doubt slowed down the amount of social sharing that could be taking place. Even though, social sharing is still on the rise, and social creation has plateaued, there be could more freedom to do both if you could filter the people you're sharing with. Zuck called this, 'The greatest social networking problem'. That's why he has introduced: New Groups for Facebook. 





I've seen something like this before. Oh yeah. On Blackberry Messenger. I can chat, post pics, comment on them within a pre-determined 'group' of people. It's cool and, in fact, BBM is why I'm still a Blackberry Loyalist. Actually, it's why a lot of Blackberry users haven't converted to the iPhone or other devices. If Facebook can create a similar and possibly better experience for me on a Mobile App, I might have to reconsider my options. In solving the greatest social networking problem...Facebook might have just created a huge problem for RIM's Blackberry. 

One thing that BBM has on their side, which will be hard to beat, is their 'push' functionality. Meaning, you don't need to click 'refresh' to pull emails, texts, or chat messages to your phone. They just appear. For Facebook, iPhone, or anyone else, to really compete with this requires an investment in infrastructure, not just an cool app feature. ~ p

Lose Your Wallet. Keep Your Cool.

Jeans got tighter. Cell phones got bigger and smarter. Credit cards, gym cards, video cards, and loyalty cards multiplied like gremlins jumping into a swimming pool. And, with that, the George Costanza wallet no longer fit into our world…or our pants.

It’s sad, but I’ll admit that I’ve lied awake at night ideating ways to stop the ‘let’s give consumers a card for everything’ madness, an alternative that would be safe, practical, and run through my mobile device. Well, apparently a guy named Randy Smith from Aliso Viejo, California couldn’t sleep either, and has been dreaming about a solution since 1996. It took a while, but by George, I think he’s got it.

The company called is MobilePayUSA. In their words, it makes ‘paying for purchases with your mobile phone in the REAL-WORLD…a reality’ (more in the video below). This is awesome news for everyone with a wallet. Bad news for the guy who invented the Visa payment chip. If you're a honcho at a retail or loyalty company, you need to jump on this idea. ~ p 

Next Pads to the Party: Blackberry 'SurfBook', Samsung Galaxy

Hold on to your iPad. The Tablet revolution has only begun. So, yeah, I don’t have an iPad. This was a conscious decision. Sure, I’m not going to lie. I wanted one. But now, I’m waiting. In the next two months, we are going to see a flood of Pad/Tab devices hit the market. Here are nine Pads listed by Mashable that we can expect in the next year or so, but this list could actually be in the high teens. It doesn’t even include Blackberry’s device, which has been given lots of buzz on the street with the name ‘BlackPad’. But, as engadget reported earlier today, it might actually come to market with the name ‘SurfBook’, as RIM has filed that trademark in Canada (image above).

Another device making waves today is the Galaxy Tab by Samsung. Pumping up their marketing machine ahead of launch, the video (above) shows off some of its functionality. The two key features that are unique in a current market of one (iPad), are the video chat and Flash compatibility. More importantly, I just wrote ‘Flash’ and Steve Jobs didn’t mystically appear and wipe out my hard-drive. Cool. ~ p

First Look at the Facebook Phone?

I love the war building between Facebook and Google. First, Facebook knocked Google and Search off their high horse and took over as the #1 thing people do online, making up 27% of their Share of Time, as reported by Nielsen. Now, according to TechCrunch, Facebook is building a phone to compete with the likes of the Google Android. To follow the Android model, they apparently plan to build the software for the phone, and then work with a third party to build the hardware. I'll be interested to see how open they will be with the platform. This would be big for Facebook. It’s a move in the direction, building circular growth versus linear growth. After all, you gotta think the saturation point for Facebook site users, currently over 500 million, is coming to a head. The Facebook phone would give them the ability to integrate further into contact lists and scheduling; two important functions to enhance their newest geo-targeting venture (Facebook Places) and, of course, to provide a richer offering to their advertisers. So…what will this thing look like? No one knows. But this picture (above) was leaked over the weekend (via laughsquid). It could be the Facebook Phone, or it could just be someone having fun with PhotoShop. You can be the judge. ~ p