Mobile Groove

Should we brace ourselves for a new battle as companies (Apple, Google, Microsoft, Nuance) jockey for position to control the voice interface and our personal search/assistance experience? We continue our look at the opportunities and competition around mobile voice with Roberto Pieraccini, industry veteran and author of The Voice in the Machine.

In other segments we discuss the wider issue of personal privacy, following the news that social app Path has been uploading user data to its servers without our consent. Rob Woodbridge recounts a checklist of things to consider when building privacy into your minimum viable product. And we both find a perfect fit with a brilliant presentation— whose time has come (again) — from Jonathan MacDonald, a thought-leader and entrepreneur in digital media perhaps best known for his passionate views on the 3Ps (Permission: people will decide what brand messages they interact with; Privacy: people will decide where their data is collected and how it is used; and Preference: people will decide what content they find relevant). More about that further down in this post.

National Retail Federation Show, New York City: This week the old Javits Center in the New York hosted retail folk from across the U.S. and shed some light on a technology play that may define a new industry I call Retail 2.0.

Indeed, the reality of a connected shopping experience with smartphones at the center may not be far off. However, this show was proof to me that we have to get past our focus on technology (and B2B) and walk in the shoes of our customers (understanding that it’s B2C that is really at the core). And, since it is about the shopper experience, it’s clear that winning Retail 2.0 strategies will be the ones that bring CIOs and CMOs to the table.

WORLDWIDE USAGE OF MOBILE BARCODES GREW BY 61.95 PERCENT IN Q1/2011 COMPARED TO Q4/2010, says a new report from 3G Vision. The U.S. continues to lead the pack as the top user of mobile barcodes. (Although it is important to note the stats don’t include Japan because “the barcode market there is so far advanced over the rest of the world that it’s not statistically relevant.”)

Meantime, barcode use in the U.K. market grew a whopping 166.5 percent for the period, an increase that allows it to jump from the 7th to the 4th position in the top users of QR codes worldwide. The report attributed this to the number of major brands (such as Heineken, SKY Network, Pizza Express and Grazia Magazine) that adopted the use of QR codes in their campaigns and promotion during Q1/2011. Other countries that experienced strong growth (again thanks to more brands getting on board with barcode promotions) include: The Netherlands (146.3 percent), Spain (94.4 percent) and Canada (94.0 percent).

The fit between mobile and retail is obvious. It is on the road to becoming mainstream – and yet the avalanche of shopping apps on the market is squarely aimed at smartphone owners. Google reports that 78 percent of smartphone owners use their device while shopping to compare prices, check out product reviews and make sure items they want are in stock. But what about the rest — the people who want to shop this way but are limited by the make and model of their feature phone? Does it makes sense to exclude these shoppers from the action?

Macy’s doesn’t think so.

In 2011 MSearchGroove profiles the innovators in mobile health (mHealth) to give you the inside track on how (and where) mobile is connecting stakeholders to make a difference. This week the spotlight is on Kurt Mueller, Chief Digital and Science Officer at ROSKA Healthcare Advertising, a full-service healthcare advertising agency using digital solutions to power direct-to-physician and direct-to-patient/consumer marketing.

Mobile is at the core of an increasing number of healthcare services and solutions. This trend is hardly surprising considering how online technology has already impacted the relationship between the pharma industry and physicians, and – more importantly – the interaction between healthcare professionals and their patients.

Today we step up our coverage of the mobile code space with Laura Marriott, the acting CEO of NeoMedia Technologies. You may recall Laura’s take on barcode trends and her list of 2011 industry predictions, which we published here in late December as part of the popular and viral Five From Five series showcasing the top five mobile code predictions from five of the leading barcode companies.

I caught up with Laura to discuss her view of the market (she predicts exponential growth of mobile codes and some agreement around methodology and standards) and get the inside track on progress with recent partnerships (including an update on the the tie-up with Buongiorno).