Welcome to our very first edition of Mobile Tech News, our regular roundup of mobile technology news and events.
As the Official Payment provider of the Olympics, Visa pushed Mobile Payment Technology as a safe and convenient payment option for consumers and while they made every effort to make this the most mobile payment friendly games, the reality is that by being tied to the Near Field Communications (NFC) meant that the most popular device being used was probably a Samsung Galaxy, not an Apple iPhone!
Amber Alert GPS appear to be pioneering the convergence of mobile apps and third party hardware devices with a new version of their successful Amber Alert GPS device and companion smartphone app. The new device now provides a two-way calling function that allows parents to speak to their children directly or for an instant call from the child anytime.
With a complete revamp across the whole product line Microsoft have now given Skydrive a Windows 8 style design, added a number of new features and announced the Android app is coming soon.
While Starbucks was an early adopter of mobile payments with its own smartphone app that produced barcodes which could be read at most locations, mobile payments is a completely different game. Square has made it easy and cheap to setup a merchant account and start accepting payments with a free card reader they send you to plug into your device. The simplicity with which Square can be integrated and now the transactional support (and the $25million investment from Howard Schultz) should see it continue to take market share from the banks.
Mobile delivers one of the most personal forms of advertising and is almost always within reach of the consumer. Mobile also offers advertisers significant reach and a variety of targeting options combined with rich media advertising (its more than just banner ads now) and in many cases mobile advertising offers a far greater (and more measurable) return on investment (ROI) than any other medium.
According to new reports the "iPad mini" is more likely to resemble a large iPod than a smaller iPad. The iPad mini will be lighter and thinner than the full-sized iPad and likely to have a price point under around $200 USD.
