Last month at the NYC LBS apps developer meet up, we had a presentation from a company called Lokast which had an interesting app that created an-ad hoc hyper local peer to peer social network. What the hell is THAT you might ask? Well essentially if you are in a room and fire up the app, and other folks in the same room do the same, well you can see them. You, as well as they, can share stuff like who they are, what they’re up to and can also share things like media files and contacts, etc.
A quick search on Google and I noticed that they had a partnerships with Qualcomm, as an early user of an open source project called AllJoyn, which seems to power some of the wifi and Bluetooth side of the technology behind Lokast. What the hell does Alljoyn do, well I can’t tell you in any great detail for sure, since I opted not to spend 2 hours reading through all the documentation and SDKs, but per their FAQs it’s “peer-to-peer technology that enables ad hoc, proximity-based, device-to-device communication without the use of an intermediary server… that will enhance the user experience by simplifying how devices interact with one another.” Read more
I was going through my Twitter stream the other day and noticed a few tweets referencing Foursquare involving BestBuyCMO… Foursquare is undoubtedly getting a ton of press these days, and much of it for good reason… it’s new, interesting and fun, and has a lot of potential and implications for marketers… and did I mention it’s getting a lot of press these days.
As cool as FourSquare is, why stop there… Mr. Best Buy CMO, if you’re listening here is what I think would be a more comprehensive way to use mobile and location data in your business: Read more
I saw the news recently that Best Buy plans to introduce its own line of personal navigation devices under its Insignia brand expected to be available in stores October 19.
PNDs are just the latest consumer electronics item Best Buy has decided to unveil under its own
house brand name… its previous experiences include flatscreen TVs, DVD players, desktop PCs, as well as various electronics accessories under such brands as Insignia, Dynex, and Rocketfish.
One interesting difference in this announcement is that Best Buy is looking to go after the higher end of the market with a $399 price and functionality not found in most other devices in the U.S. (except
DASH) … specifically a built in cellular modem which will allow for a variety of services including Google search and real time traffic among other things.
Previous Best Buy house branded products have largely targeted the low cost + comparable functions marketing angle… (the consumer electronics version of those Eckerd’s branded asprin or White Rose Macaroni and Cheese.)
Best Buy is obviously hearing a lot of interests on the sales floor about customer wanting these connected features, and since none of the major OEMs are yet stepping up to the plate to deliver one, they probably figured why the hell not them. With GPS devices sales seeing triple figure growth and Best Buy seeing recent margin declines, you can’t blame them for wanting to try to keep a bigger piece of this lucrative market for themselves…
Although I can’t understand how this will turn out to be a big success for them for two reasons:
- There is a reason why existing OEMs haven’t gone down this path, and its because being an MVNO is not a great business to be in here in the U.S.
- Best Buy is an expert in retailing, not high tech, so I’d expect everything besides the connectivity feature to be subpar, so as a result they will deliver higer price + lesser overall functionality rather than lower price + comparable functionality which doesn’t seem like a winning proposition.
Garmin and TomTom have been doing this for a very long time and I am in the camp that believes that building a great navigation experience is not as simple as pulling together 12 different off the shelf pieces and putting them together in a black plastic casing, as can be done with say televisions or DVD players, where the consumer interaction is no more complicated than sitting back and pressing the play button.
But if nothing else, maybe the Best Buy PND initiative will be a demonstration that consumers are willing to pay a monthly service fee for their PNDs in exchange for a world of new services… and if successful it will open up the floodgates for TomTom and Garmin to make more progress with similar initiatives.
I saw the news recently that Best Buy plans to introduce its own line of personal navigation devices under its Insignia brand expected to be available in stores October 19.
