I’ve managed to elude Mobile World Congress again this year. BCN will see me again soon. That’s for sure. However, as I sat back with my laptop during the week’s events, I’ve realize that more and more independent bloggers (indieB’s as I’d like to call them) have made their way down over the past two years. And thankfully, through their reporting, I was able to virtually be there. On that note, I found my interest veering towards the AR (augmented reality) sphere. Surprisingly enough, I didn’t get too caught up with handsets and all the mobile bling, instead, I was anticipating the roll out of AR mobile technology that would give me reason to put on my “geek snobbery” and look at my uninformed-non-tech friends and family and say …”I told you so!”
Thank you Metaio for backing me up.
Metaio has always pushed the edge when it comes to developing AR apps for the mobile space. At this year’s MWC, mobile mainstream was introduced to the company’s magic. But this news is old news, since buzz and insider information has tapped into the juicy tidbits months previous -> (insiderAR 2011). What did perk my AR sensors was the fact that Metaio would release a FREE mobile SDK, packed with goodies in 1Q.
Predictions on the future of AR have always been heard behind the scenes but bold statements on consumer adoption for 2014 doesn’t seem so bold after all, especially when it merely echoes the inevitable.
The video below was what has been circulating the net in reference to MWC and AR but if you really want to get an overview on the roadmap of AR then I suggest you visit this link.
Integrating the use of mobile devices through applications that extend a company’s service or product offerings is never a bad thing. In fact, it’s a “must have”. Regardless of whether the application is a mere widget that when clicked, takes an individual to a mobile version of a website or a fully mobile application that interacts and interfaces with actual functionality, “going mobile” has become a staple offering.
Mobile video livestreaming with applications such as Qik and Ustream back in the day, was an interesting novelty and allowed “digital journalists” like me, to provide realtime, relevant content to interested viewers around the world. Viewers were able to interact during the livestreaming of an event, and thus partake in the event, virtually.
Below is a video taken during one of the Frankfurt Girl Geek Dinners. I took livestreaming to a whole other level by creating a Cafe in a virtual world called Second Life and livestreaming the real life event into the virtual world cafe where individuals from all over the world could attend.
At this time, accessing Second Life’s virtual world was done through an application called Vollee. The features weren’t developed for a fully rich and interactive experience but the sheer fact of being able to access a virtual world right in the palm of your hand offered a wow effect.
I’m mentioning mobile virtual world access just to prove a point -> that great things are being developed for the mobile platform, the likes of which mainstream has yet to see.
Last week I was able to attend the 5th Annual Artez InterAction Conference. The conference was tagged “Social and Mobile Fundraising Strategies”. I heard about the conference from a Facebook Status posted by a dear friend of mine, Sean Moffitt. This wasn’t the first time I had heard of “must attend” events through friend’s Facebook statuses.
What I found most interesting was the fact that dialog on mobile technology was being discussed by the Non-Profit Sector. I was equally amazed that ARTEZ had opened up the dialog to include not only their client base, but key personalities that were well versed on the topic as well as Social Media mention.
Strategies for Non-Profits entering the mobile space were explored and examined. The rise of smartphone usage was brought up, as well as the high cost of sms messaging used as a way to make donations via mobile phones. Implementing mobile fundraising strategies should definitely be included by non-profits seeking to remain connected to present supporters and those determined to reach new donators.
The fact that mobile technology is slowly being adopted by companies and mainstream, the challenge still remains in coming up with the perfect strategy that encourages and drives people to take action and want to donate. It’s the same challenge that mobile advertisers face.
“What more can we do and offer in order for people to buy our product or service?”
I am now wondering if Non-Profit mobile donation requests will appear a lot like mobile advertising. Advertising a cause and asking people to donate their money doesn’t really rub well together. Mobile fundraising strategies must then be part of a larger strategy -> BElieve, BE empathetic, BE compassionate, BE passionate, BE supportive of a cause that is worth caring about.
This would indeed require some thoughtful planning in tying a mobile strategy with existing and future campaigns that run online and with real world events. Thoughtful planning would involve how to allow individuals to become empowered to support and get behind a cause and then, how to get individuals to want to be evangelists for the cause.
A mobile fundraising strategy doesn’t necessarily mean offering an application that people can download in order to donate. It could mean, using the mobile platform to help create awareness of a cause and allow people to interact and engage with it. Could this lead to a gamification of some kind? Perhaps. I wholeheartedly believe so. But it would need to be an obviously, well thought out game. FYI, I have the contacts for such an endeavor.
Specific presentations were focused on the mobile topic ->
I think the most compelling and informative presentation on the topic of mobile and what impact it would have in the future of non-profits was the end of day keynote from David J. Neff, Co-Author of The Future of Nonprofits. I managed to catch him just before going on stage.
My mission is not solely to discover what innovations are being developed on GOOGLE’s Android Platform but to seek which industries are adopting mobile technology, how they are utilizing it and which ones utilize it well.
It would be interesting to see how mobile technology will be used within the non-profit sector. I can only guess that the applications and engagement level will surprise us all. I look forward to being surprised.
A special thanks goes to Kiran Balladin for making it possible for me to attend. Kiran did an absolutely terrific job in putting the entire event together without a glitch!
The list of the Top 10 startups (chosen by SWIFT) in the Innotribe $100k Startup Challenge has been published. We combed through the batch and were excited about the mobile mix. First off, congratulations to the Top 10. Secondly, it would be interesting to see which startup makes it to SIBOS 2011 and how SWIFT plans on utilizing their offerings. We’ve put in a request to attend as press and are waiting for the response. It would be a great opportunity to interview and get first hand “public” information on the mobile innovations that are being presented for the financial tech sector.
We will most definitely be requesting some form of interview with a few of the startups that interest us the most. We will be sharing them with you when that happens. If you’re one of the startups that are on the Top 10 List, and even if you’re not, and you have “android development” on your roadmap, we’d love to hear from you.
As much as “money makes the world go round, mobile applications makes it go around, that much faster.”
2011 Finalists
BillShrink’s StatementRewards creates transaction-based services to deliver a win-win-win scenario for financial institutions, merchants and consumers. View Application
Cellfony offers the first anti-malware mobile payment and card reader solution that makes a mobile payment wallet and card reader as simple and secure as a chip and PIN. View Application
ChangeIt automates online charitable giving by offering donors a simple and secure way to donate small change to their favourite charitable causes with every debit and credit transaction. View Application
Duo Security’s two-factor authentication is the simplest and safest way to secure any Internet login or transaction and prevent online fraud and account takeover.View Application
FaceCash completely replaces plastic payment cards, letting you pay with your phone and sign with your face. View Application
GuardTime’s software generated keyless signatures provide a provable audit trail for electronic data including proof of time, origin and integrity. View Application
miiCard’s user-centric federated identity solution serves as a digital passport, enabling pure online validation that proves “you are who you say you are” View Application
SynerScope is the fastest, easiest way to visualize relationships in Big Data event records including web traffic, payment transactions, mobile call records, IRC logs.View Application
TransferWise is a better way of exchanging currency, allowing you to avoid banks and brokers save the 5% commission they usually collect. View Application
Wave Accounting offers ridiculously easy online accounting for small businesses.View Application
The largest toy manufacturer in the world has taken a bold step into the future. By offering their famous Rock’em Sock’em Robots as an augmented reality “interactive” game, they’ve taken the video version to the next level of platform play. Currently, Rock’em Sock’em AR (augmented reality) uses Google’s Nexus One, running Android 2.1. This interactive “technological” prototype was made possible by Mattel’s partnership with Qualcomm.
Finally, people might start to realize that my touting of augmented reality going mainstream may no longer sound too insane. Thanks Mattel for moving forward.
