Mobile Payment: Retailers, Here's How To Have A Great Christmas This Year

With all the back and forth over NFC payment (I know there is a lot of attention on Apple Pay but it is more than that - it's NFC implementations like Google Wallet), here is how a retailer can do well this Christmas shopping season.  Open up a couple of checkouts just for shoppers who want to pay with the NFC-enabled mobile devices.

That's right.  It's that simple.  While many in the Apple camp like to boast about how wealthy the iPhone demographic is, Android users savvy enough to use Google Wallet probably are not doing too badly themselves.  In general, those who are likely to take up new tech features probably are smart and wealthier.  If I'm right, this is how retailers not beholden to the Merchant Customer Exchange that forbid its members from offering NFC payment options to potential customers can race ahead of the competition. 

Already, Android and iPhone fans are calling for an united front to boycott CVS and Rite Aid and there are dozens more companies that we can put the financial hurt on this Holidays season.  Savvy retailers who do offer NFC can make it easier for us and use this opportunity to capture our hard-earned money.

Offer us an exclusive checkout lane or two along with your deals, and we'd gladly spend our money at your stores.

GTA Bit Off More Than It Could Chew In Deal With Apple, And Apple Picked the Wrong Partner

Source:  Bloomberg.

The Bloomberg post does shed some light on the failed venture between Apple and bankrupted GT Advanced.  While all such deals carry risks, the amount of risk GTA took on was more than it bargained for.  I believe the part that in the post where Apple told GTA that it required the same terms from other supplies.  GTA simply was not the right company or had the right people to follow through.

It does sound like I'm placing the bulk of the blame on GTA but I think it's Apple that picked the wrong partner for sapphire covers that was obviously meant for the iPhones.  Had this deal worked out, it would have been a selling point for Apple that would further set the iPhone apart from competing devices. 

Having said that, there are few companies out there that can take on this kind of risk and Apple is obviously one of them. 

Yosemite's New Spotlight Features Are Awesome And Should Worry Search Guys

Here is a reference post from Appleinsider that is worth looking at on the new and improved Spotlight that comes with OS X 10.10, Yosemite.  I've been using it since it came out last week and I'm loving how fast and powerful it is.

In fact, it kinda made me wonder how inefficient I was before.

Calculator, currency conversions, movie times, and search results as well as easy to understand privacy settings for us paranoid folks.  All done the Apple way which means everything is presented beautifully and easy to use.

I would love to see this translate over the iOS, particularly on the iPad.

What would really make take Spotlight up another level is for Apple to merge Siri with Spotlight on the Mac soon.  What are missing are results likesports scores, weather, and other inquires that we don't quite need to go to the search engines to find.

And yes, while some of the search results do come from search engines, Apple is slowly peeling away the layers of search one result at a time to deprive Google in particular of valuable search revenues.  If users can find what they need in Spotlight without having to go to the Web, that means there will be less tracking for Google and ad revenues.

What's that Chinese saying?  Death by a thousand cuts?  Well, Apple won't quite kill off traditional search this way.  But it is making search engines less and less relevant for a sizable amount of inquiries.

Discovery of NFC Makes Sense: Perfect Use As a Wireless Secured Cash(less) Register

Source:  Macrumors.

iFixit does a teardown of pretty much every Apple hardware that comes out.  And what they found surprised them but it makes sense for Apple to include it?  NFC in the new iPad Air 2.

Consider the importance of Apple Pay as a money printing scheme to pad Apple's Everest-like pile of cash, the iPad Air 2 and probably a future updated iPad mini sporting NFC makes it very important as a means for the tablets to serve as digital payment readers.

Consider this.  You're at a restaurant and the server comes and takes down your order with the iPad.  Then at the end of the mean, the server comes back and makes contact with your iPhone for you to make your payment.

No need for them to take your phone to the back for them to do God knows what with it like they do now the credit card.  And they can't anyway.  And it would be cumbersome for you to have to go to their register to make the payment.

The only thing that matters now is when Apple will enable the NFC on the iPads to serve Apple Pay in this capacity.  And if this works with iPads, there is no reason for Apple to allow retailers to use iPhones as registers too.

This would help tech-savvy businesses expand their payment options for their customers and serve to expand the number of locations that accept Apple Pay.

Apple Pay: Pizza Guys Don't Want My Biz

I like that I can use Apple Pay because of the added security.  Let's just say the temptation for extracurricular activities with customer credit card information won't be there if the tokenized numbers can only be used once.  So, I'm more than happy to go out of my way (within reason) to use Apple Pay.  So, finding out today that pizzas won't be on the menu for lunch today because the major pizza chains, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Papa Johns all do not accept Apple Pay. 

In fact, forget that not only are they not official Apple partners, it does not appear any of their cash registers accept NFC payments at all.  At least not the ones I frequent. 

Moreover, Pizza Hut does not think much about Apple Pay at all and even has "concerns" about it.  The "concern" happens to be that Apple Pay only works for apps and not the larger Web in general - meaning you cannot use it through an old-fashion browser.  It's a good point but it can hardly be called a concern.  Apple likely wants to control how Apple Pay is used and may eventually open it up for general browser use.  But since most mobile users conduct their businesses through apps anyway, it is baffling what PH is worried about.

I see Apple Pay users go where the convenience leads.  While people have different tastes regarding their food, I can see convenience and security being factored into many iPhone users' purchasing decisions. 

I think the real reason for PH not joining up with Apple Pay as an official partner (NFC-enabled registers aside) is access to customer information and being able to track users disguised as loyalty programs.  Apple supposedly is fast-tracking that feature and will try to offer it before the Holidays.  When that happens, I'm sure more retailers will start to set aside their "concerns" about not being able to track you and me and join up.

Note:  We ended up going to Whole Foods for pizza.  When it comes down to convenience and security, I'll those those over an extra couple of bucks anyway.

Source:  Inquisitr.

Rite Aid A Big Loser In Apple Pay Users If Reports Are True

There is a growing number of posts and tweets that Rite Aid as turned off a feature that allow Apple Pay to go through after initial tests on Monday demonstrated that Apple Pay works there.  No official reason has been provided but some suggests that this is because Rite Aid is support a rival payment system that probably give companies that back it, Rite Aid, Walmart, Best Buy, and others, more control over customer data and not having to share a small cut with credit card and banks.

Here's the thing.  There is a CVS right by my house.  Oh, a Walgreen too.  And where I jog, there are other places where  I know accept Apple Pay.  So, what do I if I've just got my iPhone 6 Plus with me and not my wallet (I usually carry $20 with me for emergencies when I'm walking about in my neighborhood) and I need a cold drink? 

Not Rite Aid I can tell you that. 

This is what I predict will happen in the next six months. Some Apple Pay (maybe Google Wallet) holdouts will capitulate, especially those who are facing stiff competition from the likes of Amazon (yeah, I'm talking about you, not-so-Best Buy) as cash-rich Apple users go places where their new favorite payment method is accepted. 

On top of that, retailers will be facing financial pressure either from Holidays shortfall or shareholders to accept Apple Pay from their savvy iPhone shoppers.  There are going to be some who are in denial and will continue to see their business go to rivals who do accept Apple Pay. 

Maybe it'll be a good idea to keep a running tab on who is doing well and who are not based on whether they are Apple Pay partners. 

Source:  Josh Hudnall.

Streaming: CBS Versus Hulu

While everyone is talking about HBO versus Netflix (not as much as I thought), the bigger battle is between CBS's new service verus Hulu.

Hulu has been around 2007. It's a join venture between Disney, NBC, and Fox to pull together various current season TV series, some older series, and an assortment of movies not really worth watching. The thing with Hulu is that many of the shows are also available on these three major broadacast stations, ABC, FOX, and NBC. Hulu provides a centralized hub for these videos and others.

Years ago, the blog chatters have been between Hulu and Netflix but they really target different markets with Netflix offering no current season videos but a vast library of older content, and a growing library of its own original series and movies.

With CBS now offering own CBS All Access for $5.99, the question we have to ask if its worth it? The short and quick answer is absolutely not. While it does offer many if its own content, it excludes many shows and sports like NFL and Big Bang Theory. Oh, and you're going to have to sit through commercials, just like you have to with Hulu. Such double dipping makes no sense.

And with $2 more, you can get Hulu for three times the content with three of the four major networks.

Furthermore, I'm rooting against services like CBS and Hulu. After all, much of the content they offer are already free if you're willing to jump from app to app to watch them. That's what I do now via my mobile devices. If I want to watch the Arrow, I'll use the CW app. The Blacklist on NBC, and Castle and Agents of Shield on the ABC app. In having to save myself $8 a month from having to subscribe to Hulu, it's well worth this first-world "hassle".

And just because you pay Hulu or CBS for access that are free on their their website, episodes are metered in that they are available for a few weeks at a time. Say you start on the Blacklist and watch the first two episodes and got busy. You come back to it a few weeks later, you suddenly find that not only are the first four episodes no longer available for streaming, you have only access to the latest three or four episodes. It makes no sense for paid service to work this way.

Furthermore, if you really want to stream live content, set up a Slingbox and stream them from your tablets.

And reason I would like to see CBS fail is this: consider having to pay $24 for free over-the-air content. And then what happens if CNN, ESPN, or TNT wish to offer their own content? $10 to $15 a channel? It then starts to add up.

I'm hoping eventually, the studios will realize bringing the "cable" model on their own and sell direct to users will not work. They'll have to realize that they cannot charge more just because they are standalone services and not bundled.

Only time will tell but if CBS's new scheme works out. My spidey-sense is tell me it won't.

Sent from my iPad