NFC = Now for Conveyance (*) : Transportation is reigniting the flame of supporters of Contactless. Caen la Mer proposed an application called Twisto to buy and validate tickets with a device named Cityzi. Strasbourg launched a similar application called U’Go (6 years after the first pilot of these two NFC-pioneering cities), at last Nantes has its transportation application, the mTicket. The card associations speak of an “explosion” of Customers NFC-mobile or card-contactless deployment, and a “progression” of Merchants NFC-compatible acceptance terminals. On the banking application side, Société Générale bank announced a PayWave Visa-type mobile application on SIM card called Cityzi for a few Strasbourg clients, so there’s nothing new under the sun for those who have been following the subject for awhile. This explains the impression of sluggishness as the tugboat of NFC drags on.
(*) Conveyance for Transportation, with reference to NFC = Not For Commerce or NFC = Now for Commerce - it depends, since we don’t know which camp to choose about the deployment of contactless.
Survey results not that bright : Take a look to see if three surveys taken this week lighten the mood and respond : No, no, no. Let’s take the confidence of the French in digital media : 10 points lost for administrative services and 3 points to social networks or e-commerce, leaves online banking as the only stable service. Increasing complexity worries the French people : multiple accounts and password management contribute to an overall insecurity. Let’s turn to m-commerce, surely it must work better... well no, refractory to purchase by mobile are still a majority (72%), probably a matter of generation. A third survey classes the 3 obstacles to m-payment: security (as always), strict mobile payment, and the equipment ratio in smartphones (which is now at 50%).
The numbers at a glance : 75% of French citizens have access to Internet at home, 50% use online banking services. The consequence : less
than 20% of interviewees say they do regularly visit a branch, a decrease from 50% in 2010. Nevertheless, 60% of the French have a good image of the banking sector (up from 2010).
Secure Internet : The first insurance broker in France Gras Savoye appropriately announced e-Protect to offer global support against the risks of Internet use. Evidence suggests cybercrime affects 10 million French people and 0.4 million have experienced identity theft! The offer includes a locked browser for web surfing, a secure externalization of your data, legal protection, etc., so that you are properly armed to face the web.
Wallets at a glance : Starbucks’ simple app continues to dominate mobile payment in the US and the UK - Google Wallet and Isis don’t have the same success. In this regard, we want to know how much Google spent to make its Google Wallet, already $300 million for acquisitions of start-up and you must know that each transaction costs to Google, the economic model is based on the acquisition of data. Google will certainly catch up with Google Glass with its potential market of 20 million Americans, more expected users than iPhone during its time.
FourSquare Timeline : FourSquare is an application that allows you to signal in your geolocation by a “check-in” to become the “mayor” of the neighborhood, entitling you to some discounts. Finally to spice things up, “badges” can be won if you post in places related to the animation of the badge, such as check-in at airports for the coveted “jet-setter” badge. FourSquare recently released its “Time Machine” that will let you track all your check-ins, pinpoint them cleanly on a map, class them by color according to the type of activity, and show them to whoever you want. The new feature will chew up the work of the NSA (who certainly do not ask so much ?) “Hell-is-Other-People” allows you to divert the FourSquare application of locating the geographical location of your friends precisely to successfully avoid them, just for the duration of a weekend.
Are social networks making you mad ? According to this infographic , if you regularly use social networking sites, you are likely to have behavior problems, like insincerity, ubiquity (in the sense that you are here without being here), egocentricity or aggressivity - perhaps you’re wondering if your life wasn’t better before ?
Cordially,
Olivier