You are ready to test the waters with mobile.

But where do you start? What do you need to consider first? What’s that first crucial step in the right direction that will take your brand to the next leve? This is what this post is all about.

Today I want to share with you the single most important thing you need to know about mobilizing your brand.

But first, let’s step back a bit and ask ourselves a fundamental question. Why is mobile so hot? I mean really, what is it about mobile that appeals to all of us so much?

The answer to that question is so obvious that we often overlook it or we simply take it for granted. In a typical fast faced 21st century lifestyle, we are increasingly more mobile. That is, we spend more time on the go. That can vary from individual to individual but the reality is that mobility has become a lifestyle for the average 21st century citizen.

Despite to our fast paced lives, we – as humans – will always be very social beings. We like to interact with one another. To share our lives with one another.

It follows then that mobile technology taps into our need to be connected to one another and is a perfect match for our on-the-go lifestyle. Mobile devices are the perfect tool to quench our 21st century thirst for always-on connectivity.

And now for that mighty secret to building a successful mobilization initiative for your brand, product or service.

It turns out that the single most important thing you could do to steer your business in the right direction is to identify the Main Human Experience associated with your product or service and to translate that experience to an always-on connected context.

Let me explain.

If your service is, say Wine Reviews, then the Main Human Experience associated with that business would selecting and drinking wine. When put in an always-on connected context, that best translates to a mobile experience where the user would be able to scan a bottle of wine’s barcode and get instant reviews about that particular bottle of wine. In addition to that, the user can be notified of nearby stores where they can buy purchase that bottle of wine.

That is meaningful. That is useful. It’s valuable. In fact, that’s an app we’ve already developed for one of our clients, Natalie MacLean.

But that’s the right idea. Start with the Main Human Experience that relates to your product or service. Then put that into an always-on model.

Brainstorming in that direction will yield terrific results. You will absolutely reach a point where you will have defined a mobile user experience that would bring additional value to your current value proposition.

That’s all for today folks. Have fun tapping into mobile and stay tuned for more goodies!

Well yes and no.

You know infinitely more about your brand than I do but what I can absolutely promise you is that there is extraordinary demand for your brand to be consumed on new generation mobile devices. That demand is growing aggressively every single day. That demand is here to stay.

And you need to leverage it. The future of your brand and your business depend on how you will leverage mobile demand.

Let’s put it this way. There is a new trend in town – the smart device. This new kid is all the rage not only with teens and young adults but with professionals, parents and even grand parents. The usefulness and the appeal of the smartphone and of the tablet is nothing short of incredible. What’s even more incredible is the rapid growth of smart devices. In 2011, for the first time in history, smartphone and tablet shipments exceeded those of desktops and notebooks. At the same time, for the first time ever, mobile apps usage surpassed desktop and mobile web usage [KPCB 2012].

Remember Microsoft? Yeah that PC-era giant. That’s the one. Well guess what? If you take all of their combined Q1 2012 revenue for all of their products – and I mean all – including Windows, Office, Xbox, Bing and Windows Phone – for  they don’t even come close to the revenue Apple pulled in the same quarter for one single product – yeah that’s right – the mighty iPhone. You don’t believe me? Check this out and let me know what you think in the comments below. The iPhone has generated $22.7 billion compared to Microsoft’s combined revenue of $17.4 billion.

What does that mean about the future of your brand?

That means that consumers worldwide are shifting heavily from desktops and notebooks over to smartphones and tablets.

Are you ready to leverage that shift? What’s your Brand Mobilization Strategy?

Michael has essentially described what is probably the biggest pain point in the space of mobile payments. Why do we need a mobile wallet? Swiping and entering a PIN is easy, so is paying cash. Technically, only by eliminating the need for these two is the mobile wallet a viable option for mass adoption.  But mobile payments is more than that, and there are possibilities and pain points at so many other levels that the end user, who processes a few dollars here and there, is largely ignored -for now.

It has to be about the experience, no question about it. But we have to put in perspective: Until pretty much everyone has an NFC equipped smartphone, many people will hang on to wallets, plastic, and cash. Even then, it’s going to be a matter of consolidating with the most convenient mobile wallet. Why Isis instead of Google Wallet, or what Visa, or MasterCard, or anyone else, will offer?

As a small start-up, you can dream up all the cool user scenarios you want, but you’ll soon realize that without millions of those users from the get-go, major retailers and merchants won’t give up their legacy systems in favour of your nifty vision. I wish I hadn’t misplaced the bookmark so that I could share it now, but I remember watching a panel discuss current developments in mpayments and the road-map for the future just a few months ago. One of the speakers, an executive at Isis, described why Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T got together to form Isis in the first place.

It turns out it’s because none of them were big enough. Though they have tens of millions of users individually, major retailers were simply not satisfied. With many different wallets on the market, maybe all of them with different systems integration requirements, there is no compelling reason to make major changes in a system that works well already. Bring all those users together under one umbrella, and maybe you’re on to something. The Isis vision is due out this summer, and we can only wait and see if it picks up. It is about user experience, but it’s also about mass adoption via the sheer mass of their customers combined.

In the meantime, there are many start-ups entering various niches of the mobile payments space, and they will continue to do so. For entrepreneurs in this space though, the best approach is in creating products that are interesting enough to fit into the vision of the giants who are aiming to dominate; Either merchant support software alongside NFC, interesting approaches to loyalty and rewards, added security, and the like.

At the beginning of this post, I purposely wrote that Michael was ‘forced’ to use his iPhone to make a purchase.That’s because if he’d had the option of either more traditional methods of payment, the iPhone would’ve stayed in his pocket. This sounds like innovation is need to entice the consumer, and yet, there is already plenty of innovation at many levels (see above post). So let’s be realistic as to how this all works: Major companies (Google, Isis, Visa, MC) want to turn existing consumers as mobile wallet users. Merchants just want to get paid. They agree that mobile is a great channel, but not at the expense of massive changes in their existing infrastructure. The consumer is waiting for everything around to be ‘shoppable’ via their mobile device.  Once it makes sense to leave home without your wallet, widespread adoption will have happened. But the shift will be so gradual you’ll hardly notice.

It’s an exciting space because absolutely everyone and anyone can pitch it, regardless of sector. This is money we’re talking about, and nobody can have a monopoly on it.

From a  big picture perspective, it looks even worse: a possible sale of the company, plunging stock, and diminishing market share don’t make for a pretty photo. RIM appears to be a rolling ship, drifting aimlessly. Still too big to capsize, but just the same it may never make it to home port. Such is business. But a big part of business is that it ain’t over till it’s over, and there are plenty of moves left to be made by RIM. I find today’s news about one such move pretty interesting.

The ongoing BlackBerry World Conference in Orlando is further highlighting the BlackBerry 10 launch as the make or break moment for RIM, but let’s hold our horses before assuming all eggs are in that basket (even though most of them are). What I found fascinating was this bit of news that describes a RIM/QNX initiative aimed at encouraging university students in China to develop for the new platform.

What’s interesting is that RIM is actively promoting development on their platform in higher learning institutions as a means of getting developers  fired up from a very grass-roots level.  It’s an initiative that could potentially foster innovation of the kind to lift China’s image as solely an outsourcing hub. If the program works out, it’s no small feat on the part of RIM who will have gained much needed popularity among young developers and a huge market onto which to project subsequent marketing and development initiatives.

Additional Reading: RIM, Ottawa subsidiary turn to China for applications for new BlackBerry

image courtesy of cio.com

It’s usually pretty straightforward when it comes to launching an app, one might even look at it as a simple two-step process; work hard developing it, then click “Submit”.

Here are four other steps to think about prior to launching the product:

1. Buzz: Because you want people to hear about your app and to download it as soon as it’s out. Buzz can be generated on social networks, on TV if you know the right people, in magazines and other print media, and even through word of mouth. Nothing is excluded when you promote your app. All’s fair in love and publishing.

2. Testing:  You really don’t want to release something that crashes every time core functionalities are used. You don’t want to release anything that crashes in general, nor include features that simply don’t work as they should. Bugs are understandable, but be sure to find them before your product is on the AppStore. This means you need employ good QAs and/or lots of volunteer friends who have the time to play around with the app’s every feature.

3. Design: That splash screen might not be as good as it was two months ago when you came up with the idea. Tabs could be improved by adding custom icons, and the icon you want everyone to see on their start screen could be pretty dull. What you need is to showcase a product that’s attractive both inside and out. You want users to tap that app, and that’s only going to happen if it looks and feels good.

4. Reviews: There are sites out there that specialize in reviewing apps and promoting the ones that deserve a download. The ones that come to mind are www.appstoreapps.com or www.appcraver.com. Some may even accept ad hoc builds pre AppStore submission, meaning you can have a legit review accompanying your initial app description. This is a promotional medium that should not go ignored.

In the long run, the development work is what’s going to keep users coming back, but these basic promotional tools should be the backbone of your user generation strategy to begin with.

Today’s picture is rather big, with Asus, Huawei, and ZTE all announcing (or confirming) quad core 10 inch tablets.  There’s also the HTC One, the company’s new flagship smartphone. These announcements make for some interesting big picture analysis and two themes on which I’m going to focus in this post; real power coming to tablets, and the growth and ambition of these four Chinese OEMs.

In regards to the computing power and capabilities of tablets, it’s not exactly groundbreaking stuff, impressive though it may be. In his keynote speech on Tuesday, Eric Schmidt, mentions Moore’s law is still going strong. He suggests microprocessors will be embedded into everything in a not too distant future, and that smartphones will cost as much as feature phones by next year.  It’s simply a natural progression resulting from advances in technology. As far as salivating over new gadgets goes, a Google search would do more to satisfy that craving than my analysis on these yet untested iPad killers

What is very interesting however are the companies behind the hardware. The four companies who have made big announcements thus far are Chinese companies -from two different countries. While Taiwananese companies like Acer and Asus are internationally recognized brand names, Huawei and ZTE,  from China, have yet to make their mark in a saturated market dominated by the tech giants Samsung, Sony, and more recently HTC. Their rise is a compelling story though.

Huawei – Now the world’s second largest telecom equipment maker,  Huawei has made a welcome announcement at MWC by introducing the Ascend D, the world’s fastest smartphone. Coming out with a device this performant says one thing about Huawei, “Ambitious” and maybe “Awesome”.

ZTE Corporation – Second in China after Huawei, ZTE devices are not known for the quality Western users are used to. But they’re trying, and with the eight (8!) devices they’ve launched so far at MWC, they’re clearly not throwing their eggs in just one basket. I caught an interview with the CEO Shi Lirong and it’s clear that Huawei’s ambitions are more than matched by ZTE who aim to become a Top 3 OEM by 2015. With a promising device like the Era Smartphone in the lineup, it’s not impossible.

HTC – The Taiwanese smartphone and tablet maker didn’t enjoy the best of quarters at the latter end of 2011, but is hoping to generate buzz with the launch of the One series, built around the concept that a smartphone can (should) be all you need: Amazing audio, great camera, powerful computing, all in “One” device. This is also the company Huawei and ZTE are looking to overtake, and that won’t easily happen.

Asus -  Makers of everything electronic, also from Taiwan, Asus’s most interesting device at MWC has been the tablet smartphone hybrid known as the Padfone. Part smartphone, part tablet, part netbook (depending on what’s plugged in to what), the Padfone is seriously sick and a nice upgrade to the Transformer concept ASUS has been running with in their latest tablets. As long as ASUS continues to innovate, the company is in a good position to maintain steady growth. A refreshing approach perhaps, preferring quality of world domination.

Mobile World Congress is going well, and it keeps getting bigger. I make a point to keep predictions to a minimum, but I see this becoming the world’s largest electronics trade show, eventually eclipsing CES.

In general, trade shows are more glitz and glam than substance. Exhibitors are in it for one reason alone: Buzz.  The media that covers the event is there to generate more buzz. The consumer? The consumer simply drinks the kool-aid. We’re hoping to see if there’s something that’s really worth buzzing about. Is it all style no substance, like the “iPad killers” that were presented last year, or is there a potential for far-reaching implications in the keynote speeches?

It’s interesting to note that at the forefront of all this buzz is a statistic (claim) that the GSMA (the event hosts) holds up high to make sure nobody forgets what it’s really all about: “Connected Devices: the $1.2 trillion opportunity“. This is a dollar figure that should make everyone in the ecosystem, from users to developers, to mobile network operators (MNOs), pay very close attention. In the next ten years, we can assume that we will all be playing a role in this trillion dollar economy. We can further assume that mobile app development will start taking a leading role in this cross-industry, having arguably become the fastest growing segment in the history of commerce.

Today I want to focus on the speech made by Bret Taylor, the CTO of Facebook.  In the speech Bret brought up a number of topics, notably the move to operator billing and the drive to cross platform mobile development as a means of combating device fragmentation. To keep this review quick and painless, I’ll say that the billing move makes perfect sense given how integrated to mobile Facebook has become. Indisputably a win-win for both Facebook and the MNOs who’ve signed on to the deal.

In the case of mobile web development on the other hand, it has far more to do with laziness on the part of Facebook than a desire to bring people together by means of mobile. Granted, fragmentation IS an issue in mobile, but to a corporation like Facebook it’s no excuse for the sub-standard app we’ve all had to swallow. Regardless of the problem they have developing for the tens of thousands of feature phones, one has to question how truly passionate they are about mobile as a medium with an Android and iPhone app that even a rookie dev could churn out in a few weeks.

Listening to that speech, I also realized Bret was saying a couple of things that he wasn’t actually saying:

1. Facebook is a mega-corporation – don’t think of it in any other way.
2. Facebook’s interest in mobile is not in the experience, but in the reach (which explains the smartphone apps).

The undertone was clear. Whatever happens in mobile, Facebook will be setting policy every step of the way.

Tune in daily! Mobile World Live

Accumulate – A Swedish startup, one of a number of mpayments pioneers in that country, has been recently selected by 4T -Sweden’s answer to Isis, to provide its mobile payment platform for the venture.  By leveraging Accumulate’s ME security platform,  4T aims to launch this summer and to provide mpayment options to 97% of Swedish mobile subscribers.

AppNinjas – The company who released one of the most popular POS apps on the AppStore, i Swipe, was acquired in 2010 by another POS startup, InnerFence, one of many Square competitors. Interestingly, their major partner is the Girl Scouts of Ohio. What people will do for those cookies…

Billing Revolution – A single-click payment solution that aims to increase app checkout conversion rates. The startup is financially backed by Citi and its Tap2Pay solution is compatible across various mobile devices and payment gateways.

Card Case (by Square) – Card Case is not a stand-alone startup, but the product is cool enough to be one. Imagine walking into a coffee shop, finding your latte waiting, and leaving without ever taking out your wallet. The solution will require some heavy merchant adoption and it doesn’t work in all retail situations, but it does to mobile payments something new and different, and that’s refreshing.

Card.io – A Lumber Labs innovation, the POS terminal app that doesn’t use any swipe hardware. Instead, the phone’s camera identifies the card’s data before processing a payment. Some card issuers may have reservations about the technology, but it doesn’t keep Card.io from taking on Square and PayPal.

Clover – The startup claims that it’s “The Fastest Way to Pay”, but adoption for its service doesn’t seem to be putting dents into PayPal’s mobile P2P solution, maybe because it also offers users the option of using their PayPal account. Nevertheless, it’s still a newcomer on the mobile payment scene and it has the possibility of going places in the P2P payments world.

Dwolla – A novel approach; Eliminate credit cards altogether! Dwolla has made some headway on the P2P end but is heavily dependent on merchant adoption for B2C and B2B transactions. Still not a bad deal as Dwolla charges $.25 per transaction whether it’s $1 or $1000 being transferred. Though it’s technically an online payment Startup, Dwolla deserves a spot on the list for mobile excellence.

FeeFighters – In keeping with payment ninja themes, FeeFighters is a comparison shopping website for credit card processing. At some point they realized it would be a good idea to add an app to the mix, resulting in a free app and an SDK that is available on github. FeeFighters claim they’re a better option than Inner Fence or AppNinjas.

InnerFence – Another direct competitor of Square with a hardware enabled POS solution, having acquired AppNinjas in 2010, its main focus is on the iPad as the POS terminal; a slant that shows they are listening to merchants who find the iPad the ideal checkout device.

iZettle – Dubbed “The Square of Europe” by TechCrunch, iZettle is Sweden’s answer to small-business hardware enable mobile payments. The key difference here is that European cards are all chip enabled giving the iZettle attachment a technological security advantage over Square. The company’s latest round of investment has iZettle well positioned to expand their product offering and to begin exploring new markets.

Jumio – Silicon Valley, Facebook connection , and $25.5 million in new funding has Jumio poised to make a big splash. Jumio aims to turn webcams into card readers – a desktop version of Card.io. The idea seems revolutionary enough to incite huge investment and an ambition to change payments as we know them. Disruptive enough to work, it’s one to keep firmly on the radar in 2012.

LevelUp – An interesting concept that aims to bypass the time to adoption for Near Field Communication (NFC) mobile payments by using readily available technology: Smartphones and QR codes. With LevelUp, the transaction is carried out between a merchant’s reader phone and the user phone whose QR code is programmed carry out a transaction. The startup has recently teamed up with T-Mobile to sell the solution to various merchants, using the loyalty value add as an incentive for adoption.

PayAir – Another Swedish entry to the mpayments market place that enables users to purchase physical goods on their Smartphone via QR codes. This “card in the cloud” solution is available across multiple platforms and devices and has recently entered the US market as Payair US.

Paydiant – One of those startups that are poking their head out of stealth after a year of development and a $7 million round of funding. Paydiant has recently emerged as the wallet of choice for Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE: FIS). Paydiant aims to lure retailers and various merchants in with their white-label mobile wallet solution, counting on merchant reluctance to adopt full-scale changes to existing infrastructure.

PayEx – The second half of the Swedish 4T partnership, PayEx has teamed up with Accumulate to help launch the 4T mobile payment venture on the domestic market. The two companies have clearly defined roles in the project with PayEx responsible for the overall infrastructure.

Payfirma – Winner of Best New Startup at the Canadian Startup Awards in 2011, Payfirma holds the moniker “Canada’s Square”; a hardware enabled mobile payment solution that allows small businesses to conduct POS transactions from Smartphones. The project is a success thus far, exceeding $1m per day in payment processing.

PayGround – Not American nor Canadian, so that leaves one other place when it comes to mpayments. The Swedish startup has chosen to bypasses credit card companies, mobile operators, and banks as it creates a subscription based service for its users. Like Billing Revolution, the value add is the Express Checkout option that allows users to bypass the cumbersome multi-step purchasing process.

Proximiant – Here is another approach to mobile payments, one that seeks to take out the payment part in favour of rewards. The solution uses NFC technology at the point of sale to track purchases and to add loyalty incentives to users. Proximiant is taking the cautious route where growth is concerned most likely hoping for a patent-driven exit or to form a partnership with a major terminal maker.

Square – Square turns Smartphones into mobile POS devices and has become the benchmark for all POS mobile payment solutions. A pioneer in mobile payments, Square has recently surpassed the 1 million merchant mark.  If you’re reading this without prior Square knowledge, you can check the Wikipedia page.

TabbedOut – An innovative mobile payments startup that focused on a single vertical; Restaurants. What’s more annoying than calculating tabs and waiting around for bills in restaurants? Possibly an overcooked filet mignon, but since mobile technology isn’t going to fix that anytime soon, the TabbedOut app looks to eliminate hassle for consumers and restaurants where efficiency is lacking, at the checkout. Restaurant staff and patrons can manage and close tabs from within the app. Nifty.

Venmo – A p2p focused mobile payment startup that competes directly with PayPal. So directly n fact that it’s been labelled as PayPal killer. It’s cheaper (free) and just as easy to use, making this a viable solution to anybody frustrated by PayPal’s fees and waiting periods. A big part of Venmo’s value add is the social aspect of the app that makes it easy for users to split bills, pay rent, and tweet about it at the same time. PayPal’s probably not worried, but they should be weary. Plus, the tagline is pretty catchy.

Zimbrew – No surprise we saved the best for last. Zimbrew is a versatile platform based on mobile payment integration layers allowing merchants to leverage mobile payment solutions their way. No hassle, no changing infrastructure, no waiting 5 years for NFC. With Zimbrew, merchants can do anything. “Anything?” you ask. Anything.

This list, comprised of 22 startups, will keep growing. Mobile payments present a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to come up with new ideas and solutions that could lead to an eventual payment revolution.  What do you think about mobile payments in general? What are your experiences with the listed companies? Finally, who did we miss, and why should they make the list?

That brings us to today’s topic, mobile payments and the startups that this niche, if you can still call it that, keeps springing up overnight. While we’re still in Private Beta with Zimbrew, it seems like a new player enters the mpayments market daily and a new product is launched on a weekly basis. For today’s scrum, we want to focus on an unlikely list. Instead of shooting off “can-do” bullets, we’ll give you a different kind of list.

Having looked at the ever-increasing options out there, we’re more and more convinced that even though there are pros and cons to all the different solutions, the big picture is as jumbled up as it’s always been. In the name of clarity, here is…

8 Things That Zimbrew DOESN’T Do:

1. Zimbrew doesn’t tie users to only one payment gateway.

2. Neither does it tie users down to one method of payment.

3. The  Zimbrew interface doesn’t look like a student’s pet project.

4. Zimbrew doesn’t keep you from customizing Zimbrew.

5. It doesn’t store sensitive data on the mobile device.

6. It doesn’t store data in any servers – secured or otherwise.

7. It doesn’t want to take over the world (it’s not evil).

8. Zimbrew doesn’t compete -it facilitates.

Admittedly, this is a slightly cryptic indication of what Zimbrew actually is and does, but that’s because Zimbrew is very interesting.

And why is that? Well, partly because no matter what you think of mpayments, $670 billion can’t be boring.

This past week in tech has been interesting to a certain extent, and lots of the same ol’ in other respects. What’s new, brand new, is the pre-release of our revolutionary mobile payment platform,  Zimbrew.  Currently in private beta, we’re steadily making progress towards the official release. Keep watching this space if you want to remain up to date and  in the know.

You probably thought the big news at RIM was going to be first, but let’s face it, we knew this day had to come. It’s very possible that the next step is an eventual merger or acquisition, but for now, Thorsten Heins is the new president and CEO of the company following the departures of Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis. YouTube is trending an introduction video to Heins, a good familiarization with the new face of RIM.  It should be concerning for some when he says that “Innovation is in RIMs DNA…at its core”, concerning because if that’s the case and they haven’t been doing it, the company’s in bigger trouble than we think.  Nonetheless, I’m pulling for him as I do for any underdog.

Another underdog on the upswing is Windows Phone, a platform that is predicted to overtake iOS by 2015. In the end, that will really depend on developers. Will they adopt the platform the same way they’ve adopted iOS and Android en masse? One thing Windows is doing to encourage devs is to minimize fragmentation, the bane of all Android developers. This infoworld article does a good job going into detail and highlighting the steps being taken  by Microsoft to minimize the amount of fragmentation across its devices. The question is, will devs bite?

Obviously one of the biggest themes this past week was SOPA, PIPA, and Megaupload. I wrote a piece in November about the effects of the two bills on mobile, but the issue is now becoming much more mainstream. It appears as though “Hacktivists” are being seen as defenders of free speech and the government as the boogey man intent on stifling it. It also looks like someone at the Silicon Valley startup incubator Y Combinator, has read my piece and come to the same conclusion: Kill Hollywood. Controversial? You bet. Let’s see how this pans out, but I have a feeling that Hollywood’s days are numbered one way or another.

As proof that music and video don’t have to be mainstream or made in Hollywood to be hugely entertaining, here’s what we’re leaving you with today: a Supercool  music video.