What the Foursquare is it all about?

So what is this Foursquare thing all about? Well its an emerging social media service that allows you to "check in" to locations as you visit them in the physical world.

The service is available on as iPhone, Android and Blackberry apps stores or for Nokia and Windows check out the Foursquare site, here.

The application mainly relies on the built in GPS functionality of modern handsets to locate you, and relate that to the venues it holds on its database. You are only able to "check in" to a location if you are near it. User can also add locations that are not present, a great example of crowdsourcing.

As can be seen in the screen grab, I "checked in" to WIN before writing this, and you can also see the last few places I visited. Now in itself this may not sound that interesting, but the service is rapidly evolving and already has 3M users and its influence is seen as key in the launch of Facebook Places, another social location service that lauched very recently in the USA.

Foursquare also applies an open API policy that encourages other to develop complimentary / mash-up applications, these include dating, cab sharing and even a nearest free loos service.

People's competitive nature is targeted through the use of collectable badges. You earn badges but conduting a variety of activities often targeted around frequency of use. This helps stimulate repeat usage, your first "check in" earns you the Newbie badge.

Now that Foursquare is getting increased usage it has introduced Foursquare for Business. This involves partnering with local venues - bars and cafes for example - to offer special deals to users of the service. Earlier this year Domino's Pizza launched a nationwide promotion offering free pizza to users; more here.

The most recent example would be the MTV Video Music Awards promotion - it's a contest to win a trip for two to the event next month. Fans are asked to follow MTV's profile on Foursquare, then "check in" to any music venue in the next week. For doing that, they'll get a dedicated MTV VMA Moonman badge for their virtual collection, while being entered into the prize draw.

There is an opportunity is to engineer our APIs to service this rapidly evolving, predominatly mobile, open API world. Can we provide pay via mobile services for advertisers? How can we monetise the latest smart pipe enablers that operators are introducing into the market?



Oh and if you should join Foursquare, then my id is: http://foursquare.com/user/paulswaddle.

Preventing O2 spinning

In July O2 announced the extension of the sim-only Simplicity tariffs to Pay & Go customers.

Simplicity on Pay & Go starts with unlimited texts for £5 per month, then unlimited texts and a choice of either unlimited web or inclusive cross net calls at £10 and £15 per month. At £20 customers receive unlimited texts, unlimited Web and inclusive minutes.

We have been involved in the Simplicity acquisition project providing a shortcode based fulfilment process. The aim of this project was to try and drive down the amount of “Spinning” they experience when advertising free SIMs for new Tariffs. Spinning is where an existing Pay & Go customer orders a new SIM and throws their old one away rather than migrating tariff. WIN implemented a new process which identified existing Pay & Go customers who requested new SIMs and asked them if they would like to transfer tariff rather than have new SIMs.

In brief customers go through the following flow to order new SIMS:

• Customer sends in a keyword after seeing and O2 advert
• Customer asked to text name, address and postcode
• Postcode validation takes place, and then full PAF address validation takes place, so we know it’s a valid address.
• Existing O2 P&G customers are given the opportunity to switch onto a Simplicity tariff rather than getting new SIMS.
• And Customers who are already on a Simplicity tariff are given the opportunity to switch to another Simplicity tariff.
• New SIMs are put in the post to all non 02 customers, and 02 customer that don’t switch by SMS reply.

This SIM pack fulfilment process could also be used for any product, marketing literature or sample fulfilment, if you would like ideas about how your clients could use it just ask.

If you would like to try the process for yourself simply text STARSIM to 61202.

Thanks to our guest blogger this week; Becky Brignall.

Are you close enought? .... NFC Payments

What is NFC?

NFC, Near Field Communication, is a contactless communication technology which enables data to be sent between devices at about a 10 centimetre distance. NFC is a smart card and a reader, which enables two way communication. The best way to think of NFC is being like Bluetooth, but without the headache of finding other devices as this is done automatically when the devices get close enough to each other.

What can NFC be used for?

Debit cards with NFC are already being used by Barclaycard to make contactless payments. As well as payments, NFC can be used for travel/ticketing e.g. Oyster cards. NFC could also be used for loyalty cards, to read smart posters, download content and also share business cards.

How would I use NFC for payment?
Well, you may want to make a payment to a taxi driver or in a shop for payment of goods. You would put your device next to theirs (which could be a mobile phone or a reader). You would then establish a connection and conduct the transaction.


Is NFC another technological fad?
There is a lot of interest from big players, such as the big American Telecoms companies, who are thinking how it could be used in the mobile payment eco-system. Also, Apple has been filing patents on all the obvious applications that exist for example home controller, a retail scanner and even ticketing. Ultimately, It is down to the consumer how well these technologies will succeed and an important question from the their viewpoint is how secure NFC will be.

Clive Jefferies
Prototype Mobile Application Developer @ Win Plc

Coke Zone

As some people may know I like the odd diet coke or two... so this week I though I would highlight the work Coca Cola has being doing in the mobile CRM space. Coke has been operating its Coke Zone promotion since early 2008 and has given out more than 30,000 rewards and received more than 900,000 prize-draw entries.

To get started go to Coke Zone and sign up. It's simple to get started and you receive a 2 point bonus as a thank you for registering, so that's a nice way to kick things off!  Coke products contain a code with a varying points value. A can will give you 1 point, a 500ml bottle will give you 2 points, a 2litre bottle will give you 3 points, and a multi-pack of 6 cans will give you 6 points. On cans the code is underneath the ringpull (but only flashed cans), on bottles the code is printed onto the plastic underneath the label, on multi-packs of cans the code will be printed on a cardboard slip inside the packaging. Code can be texted in, entered on the mobile site, or web.

While the main site offers the full selection of rewards, you are also able to redeem some rewards straight from the mobile site, including a variety of mobile content. Rewards range from 2 for a prize draw entry, to 1200 points for a PSP or laptop.

Coke have been using the sms channel to not only receive codes, but also to promote product and interact with consumers. When coke zero was launched they promoted it to male diet coke consumers by sms, and they have also conducted sms based market research. Coke continue to explore the mobile space, and have recently launched an augmented reality product for their Fanta brand in the US, and are running a UK campaign giving users free mobile credit.

Perhaps KL and Athens could confirm if there are similar campaigns running locally.

WIN and iPad...

WIN have built the interface used by 3G iPad customers who chose O2 as their service provider. WIN’s pages allow customers to register or create an account and then purchase a one off or recurring data bundle allowing them to browse the internet using O2’s 3G network when they are not in WIFI coverage.

Customers can view their account, change their card details or change bundles by accessing their Account Overview completing the necessary action.

O2 were the only Operator to launch the full solution in terms of the ability to manage your account and choose recurring bundles.

As part of the solution WIN provide e-mail receipts to customers when completing a transaction or changing their account details. WIN also deliver Flash SMS messages to the device that pop up provide information such as your data plan has been updated or you are running low on your balance.



Thanks to Tristan Jewitt our guest blogger this week.