….Well I never dreamt that I’d be writing a blog about a favourite sport and food of mine (in relation to mobile developments) but this week the dream has come true. What a start to 2011!
First, allow me a slight indulgence. This week the England team has won the Ashes in Australia for the first time in 24 years (with sincere apologies to all Australians reading this but it was quite a drubbing in the end – even Shane Watson said so). For anyone unfamiliar with cricket, it is not dissimilar to baseball but played by teams of 11 and a game can last for up to 5 days but still end in a draw (!).
Pizzas? Well they’re a favourite of mine!
So what’s the connection with mobile?
Well, they are being impacted by the march of mobile commerce.
This week an announcement by Domino’s Pizzas caught my eye. Since launch in September 2010 over £1million of sales in the UK have been taken through the iPhone app, and they’re launching an Android version soon. Impressive – and sales are only going to grow as more apps are installed. How many pizzas is that anyway?!!
eServGlobal has announced that for the forthcoming Cricket World Cup in the Indian Subcontinent, operators can generate extra revenue via its new Premium SMS service - FlexiContent. This offers game & information services including live scores in real time via SMS or the Web, plus games such as Text-to-Win, Play-to-Win, Hit-for-Six and Score-for-Four, where subscribers play for airtime or other rewards. There are also other elements such as videos and photos of the games.
Of course Premium Rate SMS services are not new, but an integrated service with several elements like this is the way to go and the revenue opportunties are considerable with a global audience of around 2 billion expected for the tournament.
When you then think about the range of other mobile commerce services such as banking and ticketing to name but two, the scope for the mobile channel to both impact more and more of our lives is clear. Also clear is the importance for merchants and retailers – major brands will need a mobile commerce strategy to run alongside their eCommerce strategy – if they haven’t already got one.
Anyway, I must go and order that pizza ready to eat whilst watching the cricket….!
Well done on the cricket! A good win, and an interesting post.
Thanks Debra. We’re only going to have more examples of mcommerce in future!
Hi Howard,
Just read that Starbucks has jumped on the mobile payment bandwagon- Coffee with your Pizza Sir?