The Dutch television guide Veronica Magazine is now available for the iPhone.
Each brand will enter the dialogue with the consumer through each screen. Even magazines, like Veronica. Cell phones will in a relatively short time replace remote controls. That future is brought a step closer here. Soon we’ll see the missed broadcasts and magic them onto our television with a push on the button.
Dutch movie theatre chain Pathé has launched a new cell phone application that allows you to see which movies are on in which theatre, to download a movie trailer or watch it streamed. If you want to install the application, all you have to do is send a text message with 'film' to 4443. You'll receive a text message with the link on where to download the application.
This is how the virtual world and the physical world integrate. Wherever you are, you can always be kept up to date on what’s happening near you. Whether it’s a new product, a specific service, or an experience (like the movie theatre is), you’ll know all about it. This developments fits seamlessly in this.
With Nintendo WII- Speak it's possible to have contact with other players in another physical location and to communicate through speech. A separate microphone is needed for this.
And so the virtual world is shaped more and more. We’ll be in the same spot together with thousands of others, think of a popconcert for example. That’s something other than being with thousands in a game at the same time, that’s just like being with thousands in the same city, it doesn’t have the same effect of being somewhere ‘at the same time’. That effect is slowly being created and will lead to some very intensive experiences. It started with typed text, it’s now following with voice, but soon we’ll have people around us everywhere, like it’s all real. We just won’t be able to touch them.
Game-publisher Ubisoft has announced that it has taken over the Canadian special effects-studio Hybride Technologies. Together they'll work on movie versions of game series.
Films are (almost for free) becoming trailers for games, that’s been my prediction for some years now. With this acquisition Ubisoft is taking a step in this direction.
Through Wakoopa consumers can show others the software they use often, for example on their hyves profile, their blog or their website.
Brands facilitate, allow consumers to share. By watching consumers closely they can advice, because they’ve been watching. Wakoopa could grow into a software store where you can buy the software that’s used a lot by your friends. That’s a next step that Wakoopa can make.
On the Dutch site SlechteDekking.nl consumers share the coverage of their telecom providers. If they find that a certain area has no coverage then can select and place a balloon on a Google Map. This creates a map that shows at a glance which provider has the worst coverage in a certain area.
And so more and more brands that operate from the interest of the consumer are created. Currently from a negative approach (no coverage), but soon such a site will be able to give advice to consumers about which provider is best-suited for their area (and traveling habits). Add price and a preference for a device. Everything will be connected to everything to give the best possible advice. This type of brand will become far more valuable to the consumer than any provider individually has ever been. This is another step that contributes to this.
The Dutch Nationale apotheek (National apothecary) sends products of repeating prescriptions with the mail. This saves the consumer time and health insurance companies money. Since its founding last year 50,000 customers are using the apothecary's services.
It may seem a little far-fetched, but in fact we’re just dealing with another form of homeshopping. We let more and more products be delivered at home so that we can spend the saved time on more enjoyable things. The Nationale apotheek sends repeating prescriptions in the post. This saves the consumer time and health insurance companies money. This trend will continue merrily in the coming decennia. We leave more and more repeating jobs to others. Whether it’s administration, looking up things, ironing or refilling one’s supply (of medicine): we let it all be done for us.
Dutch price comparison site Beslist.nl launches a selection wizard that allows people to make a preselection out of the overwhelming offers of today. Especially for comparing household goods, computers and electronic devices this function is extremely useful.
Take for instance the digital camera. There are at least 2,500 digital cameras on Beslist.nl. Through the product selection wizard, the consumer enters their demands step by step. Some of the choices that can be set are brand, cameratype and the effective resolution. With a filter set for, for example, 10 million pixels, mirror reflex camera and an image stabilizer only thirteen models are left. That's doable. Then the consumer can make a definitive choice based on price, product reviews by experts and consumers and such store specifications as availability, payment options and certifications.
Coaching brands help you to make a choice between all products, services and experiences. It starts with a complete overview (show me everything that’s available) and in a next step: help me make a choice. Afterwards our personal experiences and those of our friends will be taken into account. Then it’ll get truly good. This is a nice step.
Through the Dutch site Startpagina Verkeer (Startpage Traffic) it's now also possible to obtain real time detailed information regarding traffic jams. The information originates from the TomTom.
This is how real time information is unlocked on all possible screens. In this case not only through navigational systems, but also on all other screens, like the computer screen. A new type of brand can be created that will guide us through the world based on our preferences, availability and our budget.
A Kenyan boy has developed a system with which he can prevent car theft. As soon as the car leaves unexpectedly a text message is sent. Then the owner can react and stop the car remotely.
This fits neatly in the trend of product activation: this connects products, through the virtual world, with the producers and the owners. This makes the product a subject of the discussion in the dialogue. The product loses the anonymity that it’s received since the industrialization.
Wherigo is Groundspeak's newest on GPS-based activity. Groundspeak has made geocoaching into a worldwide phenomena. With Wherigo (pronounced "Where I Go") people can make and play adventure games, historical trips or other innovative games set in the real world. On connected GPS devices people can look at location, terrain, difficulty, hints and descriptions. One example is the Penguin game which starts in the Woodland Park Zoo, Washington DC, US and lasts two hours.
The experience economy takes places largely in the virtual world. Largely, because a part also takes place in the physical world. This is a nice example of this. Soon we’ll be able to practice at home in a virtual environment and make mistakes, as preparation for the real experience. WhereIGo is taking a nice step in this direction.
The Technical University Eindhoven is working on a device that can trace protein in blood extremely fast and then determines a person's illness. After taking some blood a diagnosis can be made within ten minutes.
We’re making more and more technology to monitor people. At first we focused on what people point at (the mouse) or type. Now we can detect their fingers (touch screens), follow their movements (gesture screens) or analyze their voices. Soon (on a large scale) analysis will be added: then we can analyze our face too. But it won’t stay like that: we’ll start to measure the scents we give off and then we’ll start to looking inside the human body. Currently with a device, but soon with sensors in your body which measure emotions, tensions or proteins and furthermore pass this information on to the outside world.
With this companies, brands, can start new services that help us make the most of our lives. It’s a long term development; it’s the step after the dialogue.
At Capricorn Computerservices in Den Hoorn (South-Holland) customers can order antivirus-software through an interactive shopping window. The screen is projected onto the window and fingers are detected with special foil. With the created interactivity interested parties can also order software outside of opening hours. The software will then be delivered through email.
Brands will react to consumers, enter the dialogue, through all possible screens. Not just through an iPhone, an abri or a navigational system, but (especially) also through one’s own physical media. This is a nice example.
After investing in infrastructure and oil, China is now investing money in the African agricultural sector. Agriculture is one of Africa's main sources of revenue, but it's also one of the most plagued sectors. It's plagued by, amongst others, climate change and a lack of means. Last week the Chinese governor Chen Yuan spoke with African ministers of finance and banks and told them that the China Development Bank has planned investments in African agriculture. These investments are aimed at decreasing the food shortage.
Nearly invisibly and very slowly China and India are gaining the status of a developed country, something that’ll take decennia yet. In a parallel process Africa develops itself as a low-wages country to ultimately become at least just as prosperous as the rest of the world. We’ll be past 2050 then, though.
Hotel booking site Hotels.com has launched an application for the iPhone that allows users to search for hotels in their area (which uses the built in GPS module), sort them (on price, rating, amount of stars, names or hotel.com picks) and book a room.
Coaching brands personalize their enormous knowledge in a specific area and then use it within the context of the individual. Whether it’s about hotels, stores, ice cream cones, a bicycle repair man or a doctor, your coaching brands always have a solution. Hotel.com is taking nice steps in that direction.
On devices that are equipped with Android, Google's operating system for cell phones, it's now possible to recognize someone by their iris. Developers have shown this.
Brands are given more and more tools to recognize the consumer. Their voice, their walk, their vocabulary, their fingerprint or their iris. In the long run brands will be able to recognize their customers better than humans. And they’ll be able to continue the dialogue where it was left off previously. This technical development certainly adds to that.
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