Companies, both big and small, are now connecting with consumers like never before. By utilizing advancements in technology they have been able to develop more personal relationships which ultimately translate into cold hard cash. Just ask Dell, whose “DellOutlet” Twitter account has generated them an estimated 3+ million dollars. Many of these companies focus most of their technology budgets on the internet but many are starting to allocate funds to support research into using mobile platforms for their benefit. It’s hard to imagine that anything that benefits a large corporation also benefits us, but this may be one of the exceptions.
Real World Uses
"We've raised more than 10 million dollars from more than one million donors through the SMS Haiti relief campaign," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. "It has become the single largest mobile donation campaign ever," said the chief US diplomat, who will travel to Haiti on Saturday.
Mobile Applications
The most intriguing and least limited way for companies to reach out to us through our cell phones is dedicated mobile application. We can thank Apple for opening up the idea of application stores to all of the major cell phone operating systems. Let’s examine a couple of dedicated mobile applications: Progressive Car Insurance – Currently available in the Android Marketplace and the iPhone App Store is Progressive’s mobile application. This app let’s you get quotes and buy policies, make payments, report claims, get directions to local agents and much more - truly a necessity for those accident-prone drivers with Progressive Auto Insurance. Other insurance companies like State Farm have since released their own mobile applications. Kentucky Derby Festival – In addition to their social media push, the Kentucky Derby Festival has launched an iPhone app to assist attendees with finding times, dates, and locations of festival events. This is a great example of an organization using the power of mobile applications to assist us rather than strictly try to sell anything.
The Future of Mobile
Wall Street Journal smh.com.au
About the Author
Ricky Brandano is a web designer and Celtics fan from the Boston, MA area.
