Monthly Archives: November 2011

Shoppers, Please Don’t’ Fight At The Mall. Play Mallopoly Instead!

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The holidays are coming in full swing and that can only mean one thing – Malls.  If you are like me, you’re not overly excited to brave this crazy world for hours on end.  Crying babies, screaming kids, frustrated shoppers and too much perfume can give anyone a headache.   Also like me, you might get a bit disturbed by the fighting that seems to have become a Black (eye) Friday tradition.

Have no fear…. Point Inside is here to calm your nerves and bring a little more fun to the holiday shopping experience.  They are adding to the holiday spirit with the upcoming launch of a new in-app game, Mallopoly, inside the Point Inside Shopping & Travel app.  Players can win a $100 American Express Gift Card through a daily random drawing between now and Dec. 31, 2011. Players can also win the $1000 Grand Prize gift card to be drawn on Jan. 2, 2012.

Point Inside helps retailers increase sales and profits by engaging customers in real-time using micro-location, indoor mapping, personalized content and apps.  They must have the right idea, Google seems to be thinking the same thing, although I doubt Google has created a cool game of Mallopoly for holiday shoppers.  The game play is pretty simple. Players gain entries into the drawing for the following:

• By claiming a place in the app, such as a store or restaurant (one place per day)

• When your place page is viewed (one view per place page per person per day)

• By sharing the app with a friend (one share is counted per day)

Playing the game requires updating to version 3.1 of the Point Inside Shopping & Travel app. The Android version will be live Tuesday; iPhone app should be live by the end of the week.  Press release is below.

Mallopoly™ Game to Launch within Point Inside Shopping & Travel App

Players can claim places within the app to be eligible to win daily $100 prizes and $1000 Grand Prize

 

Bellevue, WA — November 30, 2011 —Point Inside, Inc. (www.pointinside.com) today announced the launch of the Holiday Edition of its new in-app game, Mallopoly™. By “claiming” places in the app, such as Nordstrom in Bellevue Square Mall, players become eligible to win the Daily Prize of $100 and the Grand Prize of $1000. Players receive additional entries in the random drawing when another person visits their place inside the app or the player shares the app with another person.

“This is an exciting step forward in evolution of our shopping and travel app,” says Josh Marti, CEO at Point Inside. “We’ve had a tremendously positive response when we launched the latest version of Point Inside Shopping & Travel app with hundreds of thousands of deals. Now we’re creating a completely new level of shopper engagement by adding a very rewarding game to the app.”

The gameplay and rules are simple. A player gets an entry into the daily drawing when they “claim” one of the millions of places in the Point Inside app. Additional entries are gained from people visiting that place and sharing the app with friends. Winners for the daily $100 American Express Gift Card are randomly drawn from the previous day’s entries. All entries through December 31, 2011, are eligible for the Grand Drawing of a $1000 American Express Gift Card. Mallopoly starts Monday, November 28, and is available immediately for Android platforms; iPhone will be available shortly following iTunes App Store approval.

“This Holiday Edition of Mallopoly is the first of many for the game. We see it as another way to make more shoppers aware of great deals in both their local areas and in the stores they like,” says Marti.

The Point Inside Shopping & Travel app features include:

  • Hundreds of thousands of deals by location and venue, such as a specific mall or selected geographic areas
  • Special offers from national brands and local retailers
  • Listings of millions of retailers searchable by location and category including clothing and electronics
  • In-venue navigation features with routing
  • Maps of over 1300 shopping malls, airports, theme parks and other points of interest.
  • Store and shop directory information including store hours, contact information 
and special events
  • Complete list of services including restaurants, restrooms, ATMs, parking, elevators, escalators, rental cars, gates and ticketing counters.
  • Driving directions to locations (available for Android)

About Point Inside, Inc.

Point Inside has transformed the shopping experience by enabling retailers to engage proactively with customers through their smartphones at every point along the purchase path. Mobile apps driven by the Point Inside Interact™ platform increase sales, loyalty and customer satisfaction from initial research and product discovery to the creation of shopping lists and in-store activities. This new level of customer engagement is made possible through Point Inside’s patent-pending technologies in indoor mapping, micro-location services and customer engagement.

Point Inside also offers consumers a free mobile application, Point Inside for Shopping and Travel., on iOS and Android devices. Users can quickly find stores, gates, kiosks, restrooms, elevators, escalators, and other guest services in over 1300 malls, airports, theme parks and other venues.

Founded in 2009 and based just outside of Seattle, the company is led by a team of executives with decades of experience developing mobile and location-based services (LBS) applications for companies such as Amazon, AT&T, Boeing, and Qualcomm.  Additional details can be found at: www.pointinside.com; Facebook: www.facebook.com/PointInside; Twitter: www.twitter.com/PointInside.

@jnickhughes

Siri And The Last Mile To Utopia

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The amazing Siri, Apple’s new voice recognition technology, has been the topic of much conversation over the last month.  I too am left speechless when asking questions that at first blush seem ridiculous.  Responses to questions such as “Siri, what do you look like?”  or “Siri, will you marry me?” will elicit laughter and jaw dropping looks only magicians are used to seeing.

All fun and games aside, what Apple (not Microsoft) just released represents a fundamental shift in how we will interact with computers – and to an extent the rest of the world.  Even Eric Schmidt knows we will no longer type things into a long search box and wade through a sea of links to find what we “think” we are looking for.   We will also not be required to re-identify ourselves and re-enter our credentials each time we want to make a digital purchase.  I previously believed the future of search will be found within your loose contacts and network of friends – and  still do.  But in addition to leveraging others to find information, it has become very apparent we will now leverage new blends of artificial intelligence and intelligent data systems integrated within our mobile devices to create very personal consumer experiences.  And we’ll accomplish this all this through simple text, voice and gestures thanks to natural language processing within your mobile.  Like it or not, in a very short period of time you will not be able to properly function in society without your trusty device.

Simple and inane tasks can already be accomplished through Siri.  Speaking basic directives into your phone will help to find any personal contact you have in your phone.  Such things as setting reminders, alarms, meetings, checking email, checking the weather, searching the web to look up random information and interestingly enough just having a plain conversation with your phone can now be done by voice dictation.

And the big one – sending text messages to others by speaking to Siri – has the potential to change society in ways you never thought possible.  A quick spoken message gets translated into text and sent off to the exact recipient you have determined, all without clicking or finger swiping anything is simply amazing.  And it’s now here.

Siri (or nicknamed Hubotsiri) is the latest in a long line of iOS features to be stretched to the limits, enhancing functionality, capability, and allowing users to realize the full potential of technologies within their devices. Much like buying a Ferrari – you pay a lot, it looks nice, runs well and oozes luxury. Yet until you get it off-road, you can’t really see what it’s capable of due to the restrictions beset upon road users.

As impressive as Siri can be, we still hear naysayers balking at the current ineffectiveness of the technology.  They say it’s not perfect, it can’t yet complete complex tasks such as interacting with the Apps on your device, and when in doubt it defaults to a web search for your request.  Although I am fascinated with Siri I must agree we have only scratched the surface and more work is ahead.

It seems Apple has figured out how to voice activate basic tasks, but what about more practical applications that can make your everyday life easier and more fluid?  How will voice translation and Artificial Intelligence radically transform how you go about your everyday life?  Below is an attempt to peel the layers on what it will take for society to get away from the absurd  and onto the applicable.

Siri, Can You Please Make My Life Easier?

Imagine being able to say things like “send a message to the coffee shop and tell them I will be there in 10 minutes and I will have the usual” and by the time you get there your correct drink it sitting on the counter already paid for.  This is not too far off… it just requires a few more pieces to be put in place.

The answer lies in understanding what exactly Siri is, what exactly are those other pieces, and how they need come together for the above scenario to become reality.  Siri is basically a search engine, one many think has the potential to eat Googles Lunch.  Or better said, it’s a “do” engine in the sense that you can dictate what you want done and Siri will mostly carry out the task.  I say mostly because even though Siri represents the first mile, the possibilities can only become reality when something else comes in as the last mile to fulfill  your request.  Siri can accomplish any task as long as the information is readily available and in the correct form to be delivered to the user.  Would Google have worked so well if there were no links to bring back?

So for Siri , or any AI from a mobile device for that matter, to connect and help you easily communicate with your local community the last mile must be completed in a way that makes sense for Siri.  One can communicate with Siri in audio/voice, yet Siri communicates with databases and other systems via bits.   The last mile must be accessible via the web, enabled to send and receive text based communications, and ultimately be built from the ground up using data as the foundation.

We can see from the article How Siri Works we have a long way ahead to complete the last mile. Siri can’t understand everything. It can do a certain set of key tasks.  From the article:

  • Interact with the calendar.
  • Search contacts.
  • Read and write messages (text and email).
  • Interact with the Maps app and location services.
  • Forward search phrases to certain pre-defined data providers (Yahoo! Weather, Yahoo! Finance, Yelp, Wolfram|Alpha, or Wikipedia).

This is still an impressive and—most importantly—wildly useful set of functions. But it is a limited, focused set. And that’s what makes me think Siri’s “AI” may actually work.

It seems to me that Siri consists of three layers: a speech-to-text analyzer, a grammar analyzer, and a set of service providers. If all three of these work well, then Siri will be fun and helpful. If one of them is as troubled as traditional intelligent agents have tended to be, then Siri will go the same way those other agents went—tumbling into the trash heap of misguided innovations.

Unfortunately, most of the rest of the world does not make sense to Siri. Yet.  Although searching Google will bring back (s0me sort of) local merchant website for most entities in the U.S. and around the world, they are still stuck in the analog world when it comes to communication, interaction or commerce.  Most merchants still require a voice call to reach them and when wanting to transact, one must be present with cash or credit card.   “Forward thinking” merchants offer online and mobile app transaction options, yet the experience is so cumbersome most people give up and take the extra time to physically make the purchase.

Siri will truly transform your life once the last mile is complete.

Ironically the traditional telephone served as the last mile for quite some time, when the most popular connection between two recipients was voice line.   Voice ruled the land  until data – better known as text messaging – became the most popular mode of communication for our new society.  Although the web is based in ‘telephone’ connection, we now communicate in a vasty different language.  It is interesting to note more than 2.2 trillion text messages were sent in the last year, yet little to none were received by local merchants.

Yeah, you read that right.  Imagine that, the most popular mode of communication is not accepted at any place of business in your community.  This would be like you walking into a merchant and asking a question in english (the obvious main language here in the United States) and they don’t even look at you or say a word.  Yet that is exactly what is happening today with mobile messaging.  The fact that more messages will be sent next year than last year, and even more will be sent the next year should be freaking out any manager or business owner right now.  If consumer activities are to be automated through voice diction, short messaging and artificial intelligence then somethings need to change.

The last mile is comprised of a few major technological enhancements that, when adopted, will complete the transformation and bring this new vision into reality.

Merchants need a short messaging service

It is fair to say text messaging has taken over as the most common form of digital communication on the planet.  For a bit of perspective, just look at your own life.  What do you use more often with your mobile phone, text messaging or voice calls?  Local merchants must get up to speed and find a simple way to send/receive text messages to optimize their business for mobile commerce.  Arguably, this is a bigger deal than in the mid-90’s when everyone was touting “you need a website.”  We are talking about basic communications and commerce.   In the next few years we’ll see a fundamental shift in the economy as merchants and business adopt this popular method of communication and use it as new form of commerce.  An interesting note: once a merchant is set up to receive text messages, mobile users are able to simply voice dictate messages to quickly place an order with the merchant using Siri.  It’s awesome!

Customers and merchants need a personalized connection

Personalization and socialization are the new black on the web, yet even today when I call a local merchant they still ask me to identify myself and request I read my payment information (aloud) if I want to make a purchase.  Interestingly, this does not change when I am present.  As I walk in the door they have no idea who I am, how many times I have visited their location, and what my purchase history with them might look like.  In a word, they are ignorant.  They lack the necessary and vital information to not only improve their operations but also make my customer experience much much better.

A whole new world of possibilities opens up when personalized connections between customers and merchants is available.  Customers are able to quickly find and message a merchant, requesting more information and making purchases when and where they feel most compelled.  Merchants are not only afforded a more efficient method of communications, but a unique perspective on each customer and a clearer picture of their entire customer base – in real time.  The possibilities are endless when local merchants fully embrace the mobile world.

Mobile Payments need to be invisible

Connections between customers and merchants are great but what both are actually looking for is the almighty transaction.  The more simple and frictionless the transaction the more we, as customers, will spend.  This should be music to a merchants ears yet there seems to be some resistance to employing new digital payment technologies.   This challenge/opportunity falls back on the tech community, nudging us to continue on forward with our innovative genius at the helm.

Technically speaking, when a transaction occurs neither I, as the customer, or them as the merchant should have to do anything.  If I have already connected digitally with the merchant and my payment credentials have already been cleared, payment should be invisible from then on.  Yes other requirements such as security and merchandising are involved, but those should also be taken care of behind the scenes.  But, I am so bothered right now!  Why do I still need to stand in a line for them to swipe my card and require my signature before I leave?  This is archaic, and if enhanced to the above scenario the merchant will not only provide a better customer experience for me but increase throughput leading to an increased bottom line.

Mobile coverage needs to improve

This one needs no justification, only a fair request to the major  mobile carriers of the world.  What good is Siri if I can’t get a response?  Flat out, we need better coverage and we needed it like, yesterday.  If mobile devices are going to be the center of our lives we cannot be at the mercy of “the number of bars” we have at a certain location or the chance opportunity we still have 3G at the top of our device.  Again, we are encroaching on a time in history where if my mobile device fails me, I am hopeless.  It kind of like if at certain times my Visa card worked when swiped, and sometimes it just didn’t… for no reason at all… except for maybe the restaurant was positioned on the wrong side of the street.  Yeah, I know… This is absurd and it needs to change.

The above may seem crazy to some but to others like us it’s the reality we are working towards each day.  We live in a truly amazing time in history and when the four things I just laid out come together… only Utopia waits.

Here’s A Happy Thanksgiving To The ‘Dudes’

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Here is a short Thanksgiving message I sent to my team today.  As I re-read it, it become apparent how thankful we must be for the “lucky” turns life can take.

Happy Thanksgiving dudes. I am thankful for being a part of this great team and this most incredible opportunity. A simple article from me and a quick email from Jacques changed my life forever… and I am very grateful for that to happen. Also, as I look around us and think of what we have done in just a few months, we have been blessed with some great people as Advisors and others coming out of the woodwork offerring to help us. Never forget some things are inevitable. Let’s keep working our asses off.. great things are going to happen.

On a random day in August 2011, without a job and without much money in the bank…. I wrote an article titled“Ice cream is great, but utilities make the world go around” and got it published on GeekWire here in Seattle.  Amazingly Jacques Crocker, aka @railsjedi, read it and quickly emailed me requesting to meet and talk about some ideas.  At that meeting he mentioned reading my stuff and believed have similar visions and would work well together.  He wanted me to join and lead the team that would ultimately found the startup Seconds.  Immediately after that meeting, I knew my life was going to change forever.

I take little credit for this happening at the time it did.  Yes, working hard for many years afforded me the perspective and knowledge to be able to write articles such as that one.  But sometimes we are in the right place at the right time and luck just takes over.  In this, we need to be grateful and thankful for where we are in life.

Groupon, Google, Ebay or Amazon: Who Will Win The Local Market?

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No doubt he local space is heating up.  We are starting to see an all out war and currently there are 4 major players lining up their guns and taking aim on the local marketplace.

Groupon recently went public on the Nasdaq and is the undisputed king of daily deals, creating a new movement in local commerce known as the group coupon.  Yet things are not all rosy as they also created quite a bit of controversy as they approached the finish line.  Their numbers are greatly scrutinized  and they can’t seem to shake questions regarding the validity and sustainability of their current model.  Groupon no doubt made a significant splash in the local space, but do they have what it takes to transform our daily consumer lifestyle?

Google’s eyes have been on the local economy ever since they realized a critical mass of searches are local in origin.  Early on they knew local was a goldmine, the tough part has been designing products which bridge the gap between local consumer and local merchant in a way that adds value for both.  Google Places, HotPot, the purchase of Zagat, the failed acquisition of Groupon, and now Google Offers are all attempts to make a play on the local marketplace.  But to date it is hard to argue they have made any significant progress in solving the local market conundrum.  Will they do it?

EBay, the buyer/seller marketplace who has lingered on the outskirts of the web for more than a decade (and hinged earnings on a payment platform) looks to be emerging as a solid player in the local marketplace.  The combination of a number of acquisitions have placed them in a drivers seat helping power the next generation of location specific platforms.  Milo, Magento, Zong and Where all offer unique value propositions that when grouped together create a strong combination – and a strong competitor to the Googles and Amazons of the world.  This is one to watch…

The king of worldwide online commerce is Amazon, and I guarantee they their sights are set on the last mile of the web – the local market.  Their $175 million investment in LivingSocial seem a lot like a “look and feel” investment as they watch how the landscape is taking shape.  Make no mistake, the leader in worldwide e-commerce would love to be the worldwide leader in local commerce as well.  The question is, do they know how to do it in the way the everyday consumer will appreciate?

Ultimately, it is nearly impossible to predict who will eventually win out in the local market.   Remember, Google was late to the search party…

Another valid question is: will any of these major players hit the home run or will a new, tremendously different but effective startup with a better combination of commerce and communications transform our everyday consumer experience?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

 

Name Change! Introducing Our New Name – Seconds

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As conversations evolved and our company matured over the last few months, an interesting theme started to emerge – we are more than just a platform for ordering.  Ordering is just one action a customer takes when they interact with a local merchant; thy also communicate, purchase, refer to friends, find information.  We realized an order cannot happen unless a connection has been established. Once a connection is established, communication usually follows.  In that vein, we have decided to change our name to Seconds.

Frankly, Seconds is a much more brandable name than Order SM.  Throughout our search for a new name we kept coming back to the themes of repeatability, quickness and efficiency.  Seconds brings to mind “wanting more” and “very quickly”, two very strong foundational characteristics to build a consumer oriented product around.

Our entire concept has revolved around repeatability and loyalty.  If you like a restaurant, coffee shop, taxi driver, or any other product or service, it’s a strong possibility you want to go back and repeat your experience.  With that in mind, we created what was originally named Order SM.  We wanted to make it dead simple to communicate and transact again with a favorite local merchant.  Now, the term Seconds will be branded as a way to connect and quickly repeat your customer experience.  Use Seconds to quickly have that non-fat latte you like so much (and order every single time!)

The Realization of the web only speeding up (in fact, our lives seem to be increasing in speed) was also a cornerstone to the name change.  We envision a not so distant future where a user checks Seconds to see the local community activities – from coffee house purchases, to the latest taxi cab whereabouts, to what’s the hot happy hour tonight – all in real time up to the second.  You now see where this thing could go….

Functionality of the current product is not changing and the only enhancements will be cosmetic in nature.  A new logo where the old ones resided, replacing all Order SM content with Seconds content will be most of our enhancements.  But, with this new branding comes an incredible new opportunity – a consumer facing experience.  Be on the lookout for new developments in what will eventually become a whole new local consumer experience.