UNTETHER.tv - Mobile strategy and tactics (video) | Pervasive Computing | Internet of things

A little comfort by the side of the road

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 15:06:51 +0000

Welcome to episode #274. On the show: Sodimac lets you sleep on the side of the highway; Crimtan partners with Primesight; The Rappi App for simple grocery shopping; LiveNation gets into location with their own LBM platform; Deliv partners with UPS; Yahoo! Japan partners with IndoorAtlas; ASDA + Clear Channel UK; xAD launches MarketPlace; PlaceIQ and LiveRamp work together for TV ads; Geofeedia and Dell partner. Our resource is from ODUM and focuses on the proximity payment market.

In case of emergency call your nearest...WaffleHouse?

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 20:13:31 +0000

Welcome to episode #273. On the show: Poster in motion for the film Creative Control; Web.com acquired Yodle; Alibaba invests in Groupon with them knowing; Mitsubishi's mid-air display - it's like magic; In case of emergency call your nearest WaffleHouse; Walgreens gets deeper into beacons; Kontakt.io raises $5M clams; Foursquare + Delivery.com; Exterion pulling O2 customer data for OOH targeting; Yoose + Telkomsel case study. Our resource is from the Samsung Keynote presentation and features Mark Zuckerberg talking Oculus OS on Samsung Gear.

Gaga, Intel and Bowie...#DoesNotCompute

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 01:09:23 +0000

Welcome to episode #272. On the show: Amazon's Treasure Truck hits the streets of Seattle; Gemalto launches LinqUs IoT platform; Lady Gaga teams with Intel for David Bowie tribute at the Grammy's; KeyDuino means fist bumping your car to unlock it; MicroChippy and Bubbledogs create a pop-up Canine Cafe; Going Hongbao for Chinese New Year's; ParkHub & Verifone parked a s**t ton of cars at SuperBowl 50; Verve launches self-serve location platform for SMBs; Tommy Hilfiger and GPS Radar get you into events on the Apple Watch; Sears/KMart join the 00's and offer inventory scanning to their app. Our resource is from Euclid Analytics and EKN Research. Our special guest is Aubriana Lopez live from the Moxie Agency.

Coming into Los Angeles

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 21:58:04 +0000

Welcome to episode #271. On the show: Order Domino's from Amazon Echo; Los Angeles GeoHub; Citymapper raises $40m; Ace Hotel + WeTransfer; Starbreeze's Starcade virtual reality arcade; Geofeedia raises $17m; Land Rover's #hibernot Instagram campaign; Indoo.rs and Micello team up; Screenvision & Mobiquity bring beacons to the movies; McDonalds fights literacy.

Shazaming your neighbourhood

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 13:18:49 +0000

Welcome to episode #270. On the show: Miami Heat taps AisleLabs; Down with CCTV-like service for location; Coors Light brings local music tastes to your ears with help from Shazam; Wells Fargo and BoA welcome ApplePay; UberRush delivers for Nordstrom; PeopleCount launches PlacesCount; Best Buy brings in Slyce; ViaDirect partners with Broadsign; ShopperTrak launches Advanced Analytics offering; Indoo.rs releases "SLAM" engine. Resources from Unacast and Samsung.

Holograms, bone conducting conversations and self-serve grocery stores

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 13:18:36 +0000

Welcome to episode #269. On the show: Real holograms thanks to Kino-Mo; Proxfinity's smart badge for conferences; Samsung's TipTalk lets you talk into your finger; Down with walkie-talkies thanks to Theatro; Microsoft's Skip means no lineups at Gerrity Supermarkets; Carrefour lets you shop like a Jedi; Estimote rakes in $10M; PlaceIQ trumps that with $25M; Microsoft is acquiring InMobi; InMarket puts beacons in every RiteAid store. Our App selection is Basket from Andy Ellwood.

Get a Lyft, drive-thru and get local

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 13:18:21 +0000

Welcome to episode #268. On the show: Are you ready for a drive-thru supermarket?; Euclid Analytics raises $20M; Foursquare (enough said); GoInStore; Lyft partners with National MedTrans Network; EyeQ to make waves at NRF; 7Eleven helps corrupt with rewards; Google creating a virtual reality division; Vistaprint gets into local listings; Shelfbucks acquires Emmoco. Special EyeReport from Atlanta with Aubriana Lopez and Rob Friedman. Our resource comes from Samsung: Retail Technology Trends 2015.

Down with Dengue Fever

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 02:06:09 +0000

Welcome to episode #267. On the show: CES beacon scavenger hunt (again); EyeLock & Diebold rename the ATM "Irving"; Screen commerce by Think&Go; Billy Bishop Airport DOOH's the tunnel; Faking human stench to fight Dengue Fever; GM takes a Lyft for half a billion; Car commerce thanks to OnStar and Synchross; Emirates + Millennial Media; AT&T, Cisco, IBM, Intel and the city of IoT; Garmin & Accuweather team up around MinuteCast. Special guest is Brian Handly, CEO of Reveal Mobile.

Tweet that drone outta my face

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 22:53:28 +0000

Welcome to episode #266. On the show: The first beacon'd city; Crowdsourcing maps from driving your Toyota; Does it seem like Jameson's is following you? They are; Adored loved to the tuned of $2.3 million; Fleetzen's on-demand fleet of pick-up trucks; ShopperTrack acquired by Tyco; Starbucks teams with Alibaba; Twitter lets you control drones; LinkNYC wifi payphone are HERE!; P&G testing Snapchat ads in Ulta stores. Two resources for you today: Swirl's report on the state of store personalization and Samsung's white paper on how the Internet of Things will transform business.

The 2016 predictions extravaganza

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 15:33:28 +0000

Welcome to episode #265. On the show: This is our annual predictions show. We highlight the things that stuck with us throughout 2015, how our 2015 predictions panned out during the year, the trends we see gaining steam and the companies that you should be paying attention to as we head into 2016.

Nothing says Christmas like Membo, WayRay and the Samsung piano + Gary Johnson of ESRI

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 15:18:51 +0000

Welcome to episode #264. On the show: Membo moves into mobile; Moz partners with NavAds; WayRay announces the first holographic navigation; the Samsung holiday piano; Netflix helps you create snooze socks; Factual raises $35M; Mondelez's Cherry Ripe campaign down under; Facebook & UBER team up in Messenger; JCPenny's VR view of Santa's workshop; BestBuy sends GeekSquad to MSP airport for the holidays. Our resource of the week is how displays are changing sports concession stands. Our special guest is Gary Johnson of ESRI Australia.

Absolut-ly IoT, treats for cookies and Walmart's mobile payments grand entrance + Ted Mann of SnipSnap

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 15 Dec 2015 19:30:57 +0000

Welcome to episode #263. On the show: Absolut-ly IoT; Pagen treats for real web cookies; Wayfindr finds Google - and $1 million; Irisys' Gazelle 2; Tapestry of Hope with Jane Goodall and ESRI; PlaceIQ and IRI team up; Walmart's mobile payment play; Download the Sears app to get free shipping; Dwolla & Seamless work on P2P payments together; Gamestop drives PowerUp with fuel rewards integration. Resource of the week is Star Wars weather from Tom Scott. Our special guest is Ted Mann, founder of SnipSnap.

No hiding from racist tweets + Mikhail Damiani of Blue Bite

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 15:42:13 +0000

Welcome to episode #262. On the show: You can't hide from racist tweets; Bfonics launches WiFi beacon; Mobify acquires Donde; UberMedia's LROI; Tyrers Department Store tests the Digital Clothing Rail; Aruba Networks launches Mobile Engagement 2.0; Domino's Easy Order button; Placemeter's new Sensor Technology; Soundpays launches their mobile wallet in Canada; Krispy Kreme connects with NCR for loyalty & location; Blue Bite partners with Rouge Media. Our special guest is Mikhail Damiani, co-founder of Blue Bite.

Da da da daaaaa da + Erik McMillan of Shelfbucks

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 00:51:45 +0000

Welcome to episode #261. On the show: Star Wars infiltrates bus shelters; Placester raises $27M; Beretta's bluetooth gun; L&PM Editores gives away subway tickets in books; Kantar Shopcom partners in data with 4INFO; Book your room at the Air Canada Centre thanks to AirBnB and MLSE; Tapad partners with VisualDNA; Royal Caribbean's #ComeSeekLive Periscope campaign; TCS acquired by Comtech; Loblaws #marketmoments miss. Special guest is Erik McMillan of Shelfbucks.

Car vending machines, tv ads that follow you & Virgin's SeatView + Ryan Laul of dTheory

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 00:51:42 +0000

Welcome to episode #260. On the show: Millennial Media works with Rentrak to match TV ads with mobile; Western Union partners with WeChat; America's Movie Night courtesy or RedBox; National Geographic launches "Find your park, love your park"; Carvana's car vending machine; SenionLab launches StepInside; Gravy + ROIChecker creates VisitCast; RoamingAround Launches RapidApp; Google and Virgin America launch "Seatview"; Oxfam partners with xAd. Special guest is Ryan Laul of d[Theory].

The crazies are everywhere

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 00:51:39 +0000

Welcome to episode #259. On the show: Jet.com entices employees with virtual reality; Uber partners with TomTom; PillPack wraps pills in location; PriceLocal launches in Charlotte; SingPost opens a mall; Coke's Wish In A Bottle campaign; Google Maps go all in on offline; Verve partners with Moat; Blippar's British poppy appeal campaign; Spotify recommends nearby concerts. Our research is from Localytics: Users want more mobile personalization and location is the key.

The starships have descended

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 03:14:45 +0000

Welcome to episode #258. On the show: A fleet of starship...delivery robots; LISNR raises $$; Amazon kills product dead; MediaSignage geotargeting moving vehicles; Rodilla gives away lunch; Facebook let's brands know who's nearby; Walgreens marries rewards and Apple Pay; Apple testing new indoor survey app; Google puts DoubleClick on billboards; SweetIQ collects some bucks; What3Words inside of ESRI. Our resource of the week is the GeoFeedia case study on Sports World Chicago.

Lowe's in spaaaaaaace

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 01:35:46 +0000

Welcome to episode #257. On the show: Tommy Hilfiger brings VR to the store; eeGeo launches global 3D mapping platform; MLB using SnapChat geofilters for the World Series; Taggalo blends beacons with facial recognition; Sochat lets you text anyone nearby; Lowe's opening a hardware store in space; Sears introduces you to experts; IBM to acquired the Weather Network's digital business; Thinknear introduces GeoVideo; Facebook adding location-based notifications tab. Our resource is the white paper Navigating Location Based Marketing.

It's 2012 all over again

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 21:58:38 +0000

Welcome to episode #256. On the show: Zikit's now or never coupons; Paying with sounds; Short stories by ShortEdition; Unmapped; Pixie; Google's shopping insights; UNICEF Kid Power with Target; Uniqlo's U-Mood; GPS-based metering in NYC; MapQuest's refresh; Gimbal whitepaper - Unlocking the future of OOH.

Mapping the American curse

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 01:43:40 +0000

Welcome to episode #255. On the show: Pinterest says location for every pin; Westfield and Commbank beacon Australia; Get yer booze really easy see from Drinkeasy; Cat mapping; MoveLoot does the heavy lifting; Pikato acquired by RetailNext; SIM Partners + Show Carnival; Niantic Labs raises $20M; #OpenUpTheFun with Tostitos Canada; Gimbal gets Phigital; Mapping America's cursing.

Street meat never tasted so good

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 19:44:50 +0000

Welcome to episode #254. On the show: Ordering pizza from the street; LOCALiz from Bulzi; Droneports in Rwanda; Sunshine weather app; Your opinion pays in Portland; RevTrax patent; Walgreens' discounts for steps; Salvation Army's Human Needs Index; eyeQ update; Walmart's "Magic" service called Simple Text.

Praying for an alternate reality

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 23:20:51 +0000

Welcome to episode #253. On the show: Easy location for SMEs thanks to Localistico; Walkbase teams with Samsung for in-store analytics; Amazing Amazon's Flex; On demand clothes alteration by Air Tailor; Nescafe brings virtual reality to...coffee; BestBuy's robot Chloe; Google acquires Jibe; Foursquare adds OpenTable integration; Rentrak merges with Comscore; Binge-watch House of Cards on Virgin thanks to Netflix; Beacons for Good does good with beacons.

Sizzl, Eatsa without the waitsa and Rob joins Foko

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 02:00:51 +0000

Welcome to episode #252. On the show: Eastsa removes waiters from the restaurant; Fujitsu partners with iProximity; Panama does location video sharing; Goodwill's GoBin; Oscar Meyer is your new...matchmaker? Thinknear's ThinkPolitical; Starbucks rolls out "order & pay" everywhere; Coke-moji's; Canadian Tire mPay & Play app; MoBeamQuity. Rob's new gig as VP Marketing at Foko.

Book reviews, Bluesmart and Bruce

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 02:21:38 +0000

Welcome to episode #251. On the show: Apple buys Mapsense; Wycombe Wanderers add GPS trackers to their players; Lipton's Taste of the Brightside campaign makes it rain; Pokemon Go; Mapkin's natural language driving app; UnderArmour and Sports Authority team up around MapMyFitness; Where2GetIt rebrands as Brandify; SocialGist and Foursquare team up; Zonetail raises cash; Admobilize and Verizon partner for IoT integration. Asif reviews his Bluesmart connected suitcase.

Selling blood for tickets + Wojtek Hoch of Nomadic Uno

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 14:38:02 +0000

Welcome to episode #249. On the show: SmarTone Telecom complicates the KISS principle; Ikea Canada powers discounts with Twitter vending machines; SeeLight helps the blind cross the street; Area360 raises $3.5M; Yogrt rakes in $3M; Untold Music Festival trades tickets for blood...in Transylvania. Member news includes items from Mondelez Shopper Futures, Unacast and Coke, Walgreens, InMarket, Millennial Media, AOL. Special guest is Wojtek Hoch of Nomadic Uno.

Man thongs, change room sex and baseball (with a side of Springsteen)

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 15:22:52 +0000

Welcome to episode #248. On the show: Uniqlo's Style Your Life campaign with WeChat; Kagulu tells everyone the value of your car; Verizon makes dumb cars a little smarter; Square partners with Apple for P2P payments; Shazam your vodka. Industry news about United Airlines, Macy's Blue Bite and the Gap.

A new streak begins

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 13:48:02 +0000

Welcome to episode #247. On the show: Asif's Jamaican journey; Wrapify wants to pay you when you drive your car; Sensewhere partners with Tencent in China; Latis works on smarter notifications; Fishbrain helps catalog the world's endangered fish; Intellibins locates recycling for New Yorkers; Ahlens of Sweden uses Instagram in a unique way; DoubleDutch raises $45 million series E; ClearChannel promotes Humans TV show in airports. Our resource is from xAd called the Global Location Snapshot.

Our moment of Zen + Thomas Walle Jensen of Proxbook

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 13:34:12 +0000

Welcome to episode #246. On the show: Peaceful walking by Walkonomics; Forbes and Tinder partner for networking; Blind French hikers trek 80km without a guide; AwareCar helps you avoid parking tickets; Embarcadero Technologies launches BeaconFence. Member case studies from Target, Coke and the Hampton Inn. Special Guest is Thomas Walle Jensen of Proxbook.

Full show notes can be found here.

Where is all the revenue in beacons?

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 12:49:26 +0000

If 2014 was the year of beacon awareness and 2015 was the year of the rollout, will 2016 be the year of beacon revenue? If so, how will they earn and for which industries will they earn for? Chuck highlights a recent ABIresearch study that shows this but then offers his own thoughts on where the REAL revenue will come from.

The 5 IoT success factors for media & entertainment companies

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 11:43:17 +0000

Tata Consultancy Services released a massive global trend study called "Internet of Things: The Complete Reimaginative Force" and it is crammed with incredible insight into this emerging world. In this episode we pull out the 5 success factors for media and entertainment companies. Here's the list.

TWiLBM #245: Holy Fook!

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 14:54:48 +0000

Welcome to episode #245. On the show: Anonymous proximity messaging with NOD; Visor let's you see what's happening around the globe; Michigan University opens up MCity to test driverless cars; Beacons + WeChat test from Chow Tai Fook brings in $16m; Hipcamp's landsharing services. Member news from Canadian Tire, Placed and Wendy's.

Full show notes can be found here.

Sony ushers in Drones as a Service (Daas)

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 19:00:08 +0000

Sony announced they are entering the drone business - not to sell them but to rent them out as a service to other companies. Are they becoming the Hertz of the drone industry? That's for another episode. Today we focus on how this announcement fits into the Internet of Everything ecosystem - which involves sensors and robots...

Connected "things" to be 25 billion within 5 years

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 13:03:00 +0000

On this inaugural episode of the show we lay the groundwork for the size and scope of the coming era of the Internet of Everything. IC Insights provides some incredible numbers of "things" that will be connected to the Internet within the next few years. Chuck and I explore what this means now and where the opportunities are for businesses to participate. Humans, beware: We are slipping down the population food chain...

Chrysler has 1.4 million reasons to embrace the Internet of Things...quickly

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 11:16:14 +0000

Chrysler ran into a PR nightmare this week with the controlled hack of a Jeep while it was cruising along the highway. They managed to mess around with the air conditioning and stereo and then shut down the engine - all while the helpless driver panicked. The significance cannot be overlooked as we enter a new world of connected everything AND as congress looks at controlling the messages (read: advertising) and data that can infiltrate and be collected while we drive our cars. This surely won't help ease everyone's mind will it? The outcome from this little Wired experiment (found here) is a recall of 1.4 million Jeeps. As Chuck details in this special episode, this can only help move the industry along...

For Doug Bain wherever he may be

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 16:57:18 +0000

Welcome to episode #244. On the show: Monetizing ears; UberMedia launches Location Visit Optimization; The world's first virtual reality theme park called The Void; The world's first artificially intelligent ad; MotorMood's emoticons for drivers; Audi, BMW & Daimler acquire Nokia's Here; xAd's Global Location Snapshot; Nordstrom's rooftoop Instagram installation. Our resource of the week is social video sharing app Beme.

Full show notes can be found here.

Hey retailers, here's why no one is downloading your mobile app

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 11:53:03 +0000

There is a harsh reality in the retail industry right now, we don't shop every moment of every single day. I know, hard to believe it's true but it is. This makes the likelihood of consumers downloading an app (and keeping it downloaded) very low. Chuck explains why in this episode and highlights a recent study by Forrester aptly named "Customers will not download your app." Catchy (unless you are a retailer).

Groceries are hot + Ian Dallimore of Lamar

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:25:05 +0000

Welcome to episode #243. On the show: Location-based soundtrack on the Williamsburg Bridge; The Great Escape; Google's Eddystone beacon initiative; Spotify's musical map of the world; Enplug's digital signage app marketplace; CrispMedia partners with Taste Of Home for hyperlocal content in grocery stores; Swrve and Plot Projects partner; NTT DoCoMo helps us shop with our eyes; 800 Square Feet is Canada's first shopping apartment; the GPS turns 20 and so does Amazon. Our special guest is Ian Dallimore, Director of Innovation and Digital Strategy for Lamar.

Full show notes can be found here.

What shoppers want from a retailer's mobile app - a checklist

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 12:08:00 +0000

It isn't complicated. In fact, it comes down to 2 things. These two simple things that customers want inside a retailer's mobile app are defined in the most recent UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper report done by Comscore. In this episode, Chuck extracts the most important mobile pieces from the report and hands us a checklist of the things retailers need to start doing right now in order to succeed with their mobile strategy. You are welcome...

Go on take the money and run

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 14:51:19 +0000

Welcome to episode #242. On the show: AOL/Verizon may be Millenial Media; Shape-changing interfaces; Big Gay Ice Cream uses beacons; Gimbal's new U-series beacon; Rubicon Global's quest to be UBER for your trash; Bulmer's #livecolourful bar; MakersCafe; Spark's Women on the map; Waze's RideWith ride sharing; Hands-free Tinder for Apple Watch. Chuck Martin visits to talk about mobile and flying.

Full show notes can be found .

Mobile commerce around the world - not a small number to be found

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 12:51:51 +0000

Mobile commerce is getting big. How big? Great question. Chuck takes us around the world to give us the answer. First to the UK, then Korea, Italy, China and the US. Lots of "billions" being tossed around in this episode...

bv02's The Brief #4 - Mobile Strategy with Rob Woodbridge

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 00:03:15 +0000

This is one that I'm very proud of. A great conversation about mobile strategy with BV02 CEO Andrew Milne. This time the roles are reversed and I'm being asked the questions. We discuss why companies aren't grasping the mobile opportunity, where mobile fits into EVERY SINGLE organization (small and large) and why mobile is foundational - the very core - of business going forward.

Location IS the OS + Jeff White of Gravy

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 13:46:11 +0000

Welcome to episode #241. On the show: Avaya's bus shelter soccer shootout; Beacons on busses by Proxama & Exterion Media; Apple patents high fives & location-based tasks; The ATM for food by Oasis24Seven; Selfridges Tiffany & Co brings flagship store to augmented reality; Starbucks taps Lyft for free frap deliveries; Systeme U's transparent food; Thalys' sounds of the city; Dentyne #followfood; Uber acquires mapping team from Microsoft; TCS acquires Loctronix. Special guest is Jeff White of Gravy. Resource is the Kahuna Mobile Marketing Index

Full show notes can be found here.

The summer vacation show

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 13:06:18 +0000

Welcome to episode #240. On the show: We take a look at tools, services and technologies that will make your summer vacation better - no babysitting included. We feature stories about: Google Photos; Mr. Everything; PayPal and Uber; Foursquare's mayor mea culpa; the KeepTrax app; Google's Sidewalk Labs; Trending places on Instagram; Samsung's safety truck; the Space Case 1; Piano, Push, Play + a bonus Pizza story.

Full show notes can be found here.

Wearables AREN'T about getting ads to the wrist

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 01:51:03 +0000

Wearables can be a confusing world. On one hand (punny) we wear them in hopes that they streamline our lives, make us healthier and bring our eyes away from the constant glow of the smartphone screen. On the other hand we are all trying to figure out how they can and should impact our business. There is a fine line between helpful and annoying - especially when it comes to something that we choose to wear on our bodies. Have no fear, Chuck sat down with Travis Bogard of Jawbone to get his take on the wearable revolution and, thankfully, it doesn't involve sending ads to our wrists...

Would you believe we are twins?

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 02:46:10 +0000

Welcome to episode #239. On the show: Parkour Method; Roku & Innovid team up; VenueLabs acquired by Groupon; Amazon testing On My Way delivery service?; Ted Baker launches online virtual store with 360 degree panorama technology; Reachi uses a mesh network to help the Red Cross; Snapchat's Geofilters become ads; Lanes for texting in Antwerp; AdTile launches the Motion Store; NASA is getting into air traffic controlling...for drones.

Full show notes can be found here.

Mapping the magnetic genome

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 14:53:17 +0000

Welcome to episode #238. On the show: Thync's digital drug; Google's Location Aware Search; Indoor Atlas partners with Aisle411; Marriott and Netflix Travel Brilliantly together; Nomadic Gifts brings back the carrier pigeon; Verve Mobile acquires Fosbury; Facebook gives away beacons for free; Le Petit Chef entertains on your dinner plate. Our resource this week is The Meaning of Local from xAd.

Full show notes can be found here.

Is mass transit the key to mass mobile commerce adoption?

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 13:50:49 +0000

Adoption for mobile payments happens when it hits on something that lots of people do every single day. Buying a chocolate bar or a lottery ticket doesn't cut it, neither do groceries. Starbucks has nailed it and so to has the Mass Bay Transportation Authority. Lots of people take the bus every single day. Could the bus be the tipping point for mass adoption of mobile commerce? Watch on to understand why we think so.

Connected fabric, Jurassic promo and Wearables for Good

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 08 Jun 2015 21:03:41 +0000

Welcome to episode #237. On the show: Samsung & Jurassic World offer Best Buy exclusive content; Pinterest's "buyable pins"; Alibaba tests new QR codes for a nifty idea; Periscope's map view; Zopper raises $20m; Google's connected fabric Project Jacquard; Geotraq's patent for Cell-ID module; Facebook Messenger turns off location; Baidu invests in VisionMedia and rolls out Indoor Atlas; Wearables For Good by UNICEF.

Full show notes can be found here.

mCommerce, not apps, dominate mobile revenue and investment

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 12:14:09 +0000

If you are wondering where all the money is being invested into and earning from in mobile we have the answer: Mobile Commerce. It has taken in almost 50% of all investment money and is slated to dominate earnings for years to come. Just how big is it? Chuck answers that question based on a new Digi-Capital study. Hint: It's big and getting bigger.

The 3 obstacles to mobile payment adoption are...

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 11:45:39 +0000

We highlight the top 3 monstrous obstacles to mobile payment adoption in this episode based on the results of a study by the Mercator Advisory Group. However, there is a fourth obstacle and it is something Chuck says as the final word of this episode - it starts with the letter "v". Watch on to find out.

How to use deep linking to grow your mobile user base - with Branch's Alex Austin

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 14:48:49 +0000

Here's the hard truth: Relying on any app store as the platform to create awareness for your mobile business is crazy. It's a dog fight and the only ones winning these days are the ones that can afford to lose for a long time before they win. Have no fear, there are strategies that are detailed in this episode that will help you overcome this huge challenge. They aren't magic potions, they do take a tremendous amount of effort and the are deliberate in nature and require consistent evaluation. Sound good? Then dig in.

Alex Austin started a photo book company that, by all accounts, was succeeding. They managed to get featured on both major app stores at the same time, were being downloaded 1000's of times per day and were even processing tens of thousands of orders. Then, they weren't featured and much of that went away. This led his team down a path that brought them to their current incarnation. They sold the photo book company, raised $18 million and now help app developers with contextual linking to help them grow their businesses without a reliance on any app store.

This episode is so full of great ideas and case studies about mobile growth that if you don't listen to it, you will certainly fail.

Full show notes can be found here.

What does Android Pay mean to the mobile payments industry?

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 13:29:44 +0000

Now there is no excuse. Mobile payments are upon us as every major smartphone operating system and platform will have the capability to make a payment by years end. The latest is Google's announcement of Android Pay at Google IO. We take this opportunity to lay out the main players - both in software and hardware - as it finally looks like the earth will be blanketed by the tech to enable mobile payments. The question is when do the consumers latch on...

Contagious billboards, smart canes and Tweeting potholes + Trevor Longino of Kontakt.io

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 17:37:51 +0000

Welcome to episode #236. On the show: The contagious billboard; Ubimo and Autograph raise rounds; Apple acquires augmented reality company Metaio; Carrefour's 2.5km of LED location lights; XploR smart cane with facial recognition; Lenovo Yoga Tablet's #lightandseek; AdNear and Roy Morgan partner; Shazam everything; Tweeting potholes; Sell advertising in your home windows. Special guest is Trevor Longino of Kontakt.io

Full show notes can be found here.

4 lessons learned from the front line during the year of beacons

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 13:46:33 +0000

A year ago beacons were the rage. Today they are a reality and the lessons that have been learned during the first real year of beacon implementations are many. Chuck had an opportunity to moderate a recent panel that featured 4 of the top beacon minds in retail and he summarizes what they have learned in this episode.

43% of retailers have no idea how mobile impacts their business

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 29 May 2015 13:22:55 +0000

There are gaps in the way retailers implement their mobile strategies. Take, for instance, the results from the Mobile Payments and Fraud 2015 report highlighted in this episode. Chuck identifies where the opportunities exist between how merchants are using mobile and how consumers are interested in using mobile with those merchants. The gaps are wide and the opportunities are bountiful - provided it becomes a priority.

Here are the 5 steps to true personalization

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 28 May 2015 10:41:10 +0000

Fighting the tyranny of the average - that's how Lucinda Duncalfe describes our current mobile and digital state and she is not far off. At a recent event, Chuck had an opportunity to sit with the Monetate CEO to talk about her 5 levels of the path to personalization and here is the result.

The billionaire ranch

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 26 May 2015 12:09:34 +0000

Welcome to episode #235. On the show: Girl detection billboards; KFC's tray tapper; Project Lynx; Next generation QR codes; CHOZ app; O2 acquires Weve; Drink activated coasters against domestic abuse; Apple buys Coherent Navigation; Humagrams power Ticketmaster Canada.

Full show notes can be found here.

Hey, NFC isn't DOA!

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 22 May 2015 12:10:39 +0000

NFC hoopla reached a fevered pitch right before Apple finally announced support for the tap-to-do-stuff technology. Since then it seems to have hit a silent stride in the market beyond the initial feeling it would be yet another mobile payment platform. Chuck stopped by the NFC Forum in Boston and was treated to a number of seriously cool examples of what NFC can and will be doing for us in the near future.

Why context is a currency you can't ignore

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 21 May 2015 19:18:48 +0000

This isn't new. The idea that time & location married with supply & demand brings untold opportunity has been around since long before mobile, the Internet, computers and electricity. What is different today is the fact all 4 of those things are at our disposal all the time and with it comes the ability to provide on demand relevancy. How does this work? Chuck explains it all in this episode. The key takeaways are that it does work and it does drive higher revenue. Period.

Why you should be where people love or where people hate - with Density founder Andrew Farah

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 20 May 2015 20:03:34 +0000

There is a word that keeps cropping up when it comes to mobile anything - density. It is such a great word unless there isn't any. There are 3 axis for mobile these days: Context, location and density. Context is easy to start with: Is it morning, noon or night? Is it raining, sunny or snowing? Location is getting easier (and VERY slowly getting more accurate): Standing in a stadium, restaurant or train station? New York, New Jersey or Philadelphia? Density is a little more challenging. It looks for the answer of how many people are nearby or in a shop or are using an app in a specific region. The problem is that to make key mobile marketing decisions you need accuracy on all three. Hence, the three axis of mobile.

Today's guest is Andrew Farah, founder of the aptly-named Density. They install in/out counters in the doors of small and medium-sized businesses to do one thing: Count people entering and leaving the business. Seems simple enough but the challenges and the impact of what they are doing are many and wide-ranging.

Full show notes can be found here.

Mobile now influences $1 trillion in retail sales

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 20 May 2015 12:38:16 +0000

There's a number for you. Mobile now influences $1 trillion of in-store sales. This is according to the most recent survey results from Deloitte Digital. Navigating the New Digital Divide highlights the growing importance of tracking the entire mobile shopping journey and not just the transaction as many other studies do. Mobile influences much more than payments and this proves that in spades. Chuck highlights the results in this episode.

Is that a mattress or a sex therapist?

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 18 May 2015 20:20:49 +0000

Welcome to episode #234. On the show: Fujitsu's Ubiquitouswear; SocialRadar's LocationKit; Domino's order by tweeting an Emoji; Tunity App; JCDecaux punks Belgium Marketing Directors; Auto-cue's car movie scenes re-enacted with augmented reality; The Doghouse Virtual Reality movie; ooVootique; Dunlopillo's connected mattress; Geoconquesting in real life thanks to Zo Rooms vs. OYO Rooms. Chuck Martin joins us to talk about the latest Thinknear Location Score Index.

Full show notes can be found here.

Where IoT meets mobile commerce

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 15 May 2015 12:46:43 +0000

The industry surrounding the Internet of Things will be worth $8 trillion according to a recent report by Cisco and DHL. While a good portion of that value will be in hardware and software, Chuck explains how all of those connected pieces will lead to massive gains in mobile commerce revenue as well.

Strategies and tactics for entering the mobile fray in China – with InMobi’s Piyush Shah

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 14 May 2015 11:52:01 +0000

** This is a rebroadcast of one of the most popular episodes on UNTETHER.tv - and an episode that should be revisited if you are now seriously looking at growing your user base in mobile. Tons of tactics and strategies are in this episode that can help you do just that. Enjoy! **

It was only a matter of time before China became the world’s largest mobile market. Now it can’t be ignored. This year it surpassed the United States for iOS and Android activations and will soon hit over 500 million smartphones according to InMobi. The numbers are staggering and as a mobile entrepreneur or business looking to bring new revenue in through mobile, China needs to be on your (very) short list of places to be.

The challenges are many but the barriers have been dropping at an incredible rate – think back to a short 10 years ago and what it would have taken to enter into this market. Now, the app stores have paved the way for local distribution and payment and the population is the most connected on the planet. An eager market of hundreds of millions waiting for your product or service.

Piyush Shah knows something about this opportunity – he is the VP & GM, Developer Platform and Performance Advertising for InMobi, a quickly-emerging global company focused on mobile-first customer engagement platforms. The data they collect and analyze form the basis for the reports and insights they provide to the community.

Piyush is based in Bangalore, India and we connected to talk about the China opportunity and what developers and businesses need to do to succeed in this huge, fertile and truly mobile-first country.

Full show notes can be found here.

Mobile payments now account for 27% of global online payments

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 13 May 2015 15:11:33 +0000

Mobile is becoming more and more a part of the buying process. It now accounts for 27% of global online payments and is not slowing down. In fact, that number is up 5% from the previous quarter. All this is from the Ayden Mobile Payments Index for the first quarter of 2015. Chuck offers some of the key findings in this episode.

Ice Men organs, Wifi in the shadows and pups on big screens

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 11 May 2015 02:33:50 +0000

Welcome to episode #233. On the show: Banjo closes $100 million in funding; Pizza Hut lets you track your pizza; Gimbal partners with Tillster for restaurants; SpotMe App lets you pay and track debts; Battersea puts dogs on digital screens; Wall's Ice Cream brings the truck inside your office; Ice Men campaign for organ donation; Departures NYC; Shadow WiFi; UrbanClap from India

Full show notes can be found here.

Big screens are taking over our pockets

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 08 May 2015 16:22:10 +0000

From big to small to big again. This is the path that we have taken with the phones in our pocket. We started with phones that required a car to carry the battery and clamoured for more portability. Just when our prayers were answered - and so much more - we are once again looking at our phones getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Chuck highlights the stats from a Flurry study about global phone size as I long for my Startac...

How much of your marketing budget you should be investing in mobile - with MMA CEO Greg Stuart

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 06 May 2015 16:39:21 +0000

Greg Stuart, CEO of the Mobile Marketing Association, joins us to talk about some ground-breaking research that his organization has been conducting with the likes of WalMart, Coca-Cola, AT&T and MasterCard. The study is called Cross Marketing Effectiveness (SMoX) and offers as close as possible the answer to every marketers top questions about investing in mobile: How much money should we spend and where should we spend it to be most effective. Greg is here to summarize the results and give us the answers we seek.

Full show notes can be found here.

Has MCX already lost the battle?

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 05 May 2015 16:38:54 +0000

MCX - the Merchant Customer Exchange - has brought together many of the top retail brands on the planet to offer up a unique mobile commerce platform but things seem to be fraying at the edges. In the span of 48 hours the service, beta-testing somewhere unknown, has lost one of their big brands and their CEO. What does this mean for their future? Chuck offers us some insight and, perhaps, their destination...

Mobile game developer? Here are your odds of success

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 01 May 2015 12:34:33 +0000

If you ask every smartphone user on the planet if they've played a game on their phone, the majority (as in the GREAT majority) will say they have. Ask those same people if they've paid for a game on their phone and the number shrinks. If you ask those same people what game they've paid for there will be a handful of household names that will emerge - we'll call those guys the winners. This is the competitive world of mobile gaming where millions of dollars are poured into games with a 0.2% chance of being successful. This according to a recent study by Swrve called the Swrve Monetization Report.

Chuck brings the key mobile game monetization numbers to light in this episode. Hold on to your lunch if you are a game developer. The odds are long but the rewards - should you succeed - are beyond imagine.

Where smaller retailers are spending on mobile this year

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 11:37:42 +0000

A recent study by Edelman Berland on behalf of eBay Enterprise looks at where and what smaller retailers are doing and spending for mobile initiatives this year. Chuck has pulled 2 key stats from the report and discusses them in this episode.

Is the heart of the mobile app economy still beating - with Pollen founder Martin Macmillan

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 13:01:25 +0000

The app stores are littered with the broken dreams of thousands of entrepreneurs from around the planet. The early days brought such incredible opportunity to those with foresight and coding abilities - get a game into market and the magic of the devices will do the selling. Unfortunately, for the most part, those days are gone for good (perhaps to emerge again with wearables?). This doesn't mean that the entire app economy is in a tailspin - in fact, the spoils are greater now and getting bigger all the time.

Martin Macmillan's company, Pollen, has a unique vantage point on what is happening in the early stages of the mobile app world. Pollen helps bring earned revenue forward from the app stores in order to help fill what he calls the funding gap - that spot between earning a dollar from an app and getting paid. This funding gap kills momentum and kills companies.

This episode takes a look at some of the mobile app trends he is seeing from around the world, dips into the disconnect between the old and new world of funding (and why legacy investment models don't work in this new economy) and attacks a question on a lot of app developer's minds: Are mobile gaming companies still good venture investments.

Full show notes can be found here.

Beacons are getting smarter - fast.

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 20:29:34 +0000

The uses of beacons have matured in the last year and are now rolling out for many different uses across almost all industries. Chuck runs down some of the big announcements that are shaping the beacon industry including news from Swirl, Swatch, InMarket, Radius Networks, ShopKick and ShopperTrak.

The first Canadian President of the United States

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 16:40:41 +0000

Welcome to episode #231. On the show: Viewswagen wants to sell ads in Uber and Lyft; Density brings local establishment crowd numbers to mobile; Twitter invests in Swirl; Gannett pours millions on Gravy; Track your luggage with BagJourney; Order your rickshaw in India with Chaloge Kya; MomCo helps mothers connect with each other and local businesses; Voatz hopes to bring the vote to the voters; Leap Transit makes taking the bus the destination; Air Orchard and Ant Man innovate on billboard advertising; LessThan100 adjusts prices based on gender.

Full show notes can be found here.

Do mobile sales keep pace with mobile traffic growth?

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 16:40:03 +0000

Mobile's consumptive nature marches forward pretty much unabated when it comes to originating traffic. This is uncontested as the majority of us look to our smartphones and tablets as first screens these days. Traffic is one thing, but what about sales? Is the growth in sales originating from a smaller screen keeping up with the traffic? Chuck highlights the latest quarterly mobile stats from Affiliate Window that answers this question and many more.

8 mobile commerce stats that you should know now

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 16:39:59 +0000

There have been an incredible number of mobile commerce studies that have been released over the last month but have no fear - you don't have to read them all. Chuck highlights 8 key data points from these studies that you should know and he does it in under 2 minutes.

The state of the mobile gaming industry according to Gigataur CEO Andrew Fisher

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 15:16:51 +0000

Is there a more competitive vertical in mobile than gaming these days? So lucrative for so few yet with so many companies vying for our spare time. If you look through the various app stores these days it is evident that mobile gaming is also a "big brand" battleground. How can smaller, more nimble and innovative game developers compete? How can they attract the bigger brands that have the budget to build great mobile gaming experiences with brands people recognize? In short, can game developers make triple "A" console equivalent games on mobile?

Enter Gigataur (formerly Glitchsoft) and their CEO Andrew Fisher. Gigataur is proving to be a force in the branded mobile gaming world having built the successful He-Man and X-Men games. They have now released the pinnacle of big branded games in Disney's Star Wars Rebels for mobile. How did a boutique, Ottawa-based mobile gaming company secure the rights (and the absolute privilege) to build this game? What is the state of the mobile gaming world today? Can mobile game developers build console-equivalent experiences on the small screen?

We dive in and tackle this and much more in a very open and provocative conversation about the mobile gaming industry.

Full show notes can be found here.

Satellites for humanity, Foursquare's last gasp & Brent Hieggelke of Urban Airship

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 14:15:17 +0000

Welcome to episode #230. On the show: WatchQuest for your AppleWatch; Foursquare's PinPoint + Yahoo! rumours; Pay with your Jawbone if you have an American Express; John Moose gives away their music if you are in the woods; Planet Labs' constellation of satellites for humanity closes $118M; BlowUp Media wraps buildings in temporary screens; Toronto Library maps poetry; RetailNext closes $125M; ByHours lets you rent rooms by the hour; Verifone Media's #HelloGeo campaign. Our special guest is Brent Hieggelke, Chief Mobile Evangelist at Urban Airship.

Full show notes can be found here.

Why-fi? Because it makes your business better

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 16:46:10 +0000

In-store WiFi will jump in 2015 - according to the recent Impact of Store Networks and WiFi on Customer Experience study done by IHL Group. The study focuses on a number of in-store technologies but, as you'll see in this episode, the impact of having WiFi in a place of business is hard to argue with. Also, in this episode, Chuck highlights the kinds of information companies are collecting from their WiFi users and how they are using it. Let's just say there is a lot of room for improvement both in connectivity as well as how it is used.

Leaders lead and luddites lag in mobile commerce and the gap is getting wider

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 12:05:06 +0000

The mobile commerce gap is widening between retailers that get it and those that don't. The logical thinking is that a rising tide raises all ships - especially when it comes to mobile commerce and retail. Of course when the industry advances so should everyone right? Wrong. A recent study by Criteo shows that if you aren't committed to building and implementing a mobile strategy you will fall behind at a rate that, at some point, there will be no recovery from. Watch as Chuck brings these numbers to light and then, do yourself and your business a favour and commit to getting mobile right and right now.

Why the smart watch is the remote control for our lives - with Brent Hieggelke of Urban Airship

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 15:26:55 +0000

There is a constant conversation and polarizing debate about the need and impact of wearable technology. Some proselytizing their ability to regain our humanity (seriously) while others eschew their usefulness - certainly of no value to businesses. While the debate rages on you know the reality will land somewhere between the impact of the smartphone and the tablet - that is to say a revolution of magnitudes we haven't quite grasped yet. Apple did sell 1 million watches in 24 hours...

I think the challenge we are all facing - which is the same thing we faced with smartphones as North America transitioned from a big stationary screen to smaller portable ones - is how do these things fit into our world. Is it a smaller version of something I already carry or is it something completely different that will change the way we interact, consume content, pay for things etc. My first belief is that there are few monumental shifts in a lifetime and this, the wearable one, will be the third I've witnessed (behind the web and mobile).

Joining me to discuss these issues in depth is Brent Hieggelke, Chief Mobile Evangelist for Urban Airship. Brent has an incredible perception of how the wearable world will shake out as a result of the Applewatch and other wrist apparel. We dive into the new world of "unadvertising", whether or not brands really "get" what is going on, how the notification is becoming the predominant relationship builder in mobile and the concept that the watch will become the remote control for our lives.

Big topic. Big conversation. Suit up, it's time to get smart.

Full show notes can be found here.

Where the gap is in mobile loyalty

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 12:28:00 +0000

It is one thing to capture loyalty points on mobile - which seems to be almost normal these days - but redemption is a completely different story. As Chuck details in this episode, a new study from Capgemini Consulting has brought to light the biggest gap in mobile loyalty...and it isn't earning points. If you are seeking a way to differentiate your loyalty offering from the rest, the answer is 2 minutes away.

Delta kills animals

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 18:49:13 +0000

Welcome to episode #229. On the show: xAd launches Global Blueprints; MedNav tries to be the OpenTable for medical appointments; Coke Zero and Carlsberg pour out from a billboard; Sponda uses RFID to add location to malls; Freckle IOT partners with BlueBite; ShopperTrak partners with Shopkick; Patagonia will fix your torn clothes; StudioTime tries to be the AirBnB of recording studios and Delta tries not to kill your animals. Our special guest is Christophe Remillet of OneVisage.

Full show notes can be found here.

Mobile now accounts for 34% of global ecommerce transactions

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 13:57:48 +0000

While the mobile transaction is not the stat to focus on when it comes to the true impact of mobile commerce it is VERY hard to deny the growth in those numbers. Criteo's latest research - State of Mobile Commerce - for Q1 of 2015 shows the incredible increase in mobile transactions and Chuck highlights it all right here.

How beacons are becoming the glue that binds the physical and digital world - with Gimbal COO Kevin Hunter

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 09 Apr 2015 14:27:50 +0000

From nowhere to inside every Apple store in the United States, most Major League Baseball stadiums and even a part of the past 3 Super Bowls. That's just a sampling of where you will find the technology of the company featured in this episode. The company is Gimbal - makers of an in-real-life engagement platform that features some of the leading beacon technology in the industry.

Beacons have been referenced on a scale from "huge consumer distraction" to "the saviour of retail" and everything in between and the goal of this episode is to break through to the real impact that beacons will have on the act of marketing.

Kevin Hunter is the Chief Operating Officer of Gimbal and he joins us to talk about the beacon industry, the marketing shift it has started and the future of marketing and business as a result of beacons.

Full episode notes can be found here.

70% of mobile shopping app users make a purchase

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 12:17:50 +0000

A new study by the Global Web Index brings some incredible mobile commerce numbers and may answer the age old "app vs mobile web" question once and for all. According to the study there are over 500 million mobile shoppers globally and the largest grouping is in the coveted 16-44 year old range. Questions? Well, if that isn't enough ammunition to arm your mobile strategy, the study also lays waste to the idea that you don't need a shopping app...watch the episode to find out why.

Filling the bunny's basket + Kevin Hunter of Gimbal

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 16:23:51 +0000

Welcome to episode #228. On the show: Pac-man Easter egg from Google; Amazon's Dash button; MasterCard partners with KIIP; Adobe partners with Vibes Media; The National Baseball Hall of Fame brings history alive; London's underground helps the visually impaired; AirBites - the AirBnB for home-cooked meals; Tworlds shows is the grass is greener over there; KeepTrax raises a modest $1M. Special guest is Kevin Hunter, COO of Gimbal.

Full show notes can be found here.

Why the "pay-for" radio era isn't making money yet - with Patrick Reynolds

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 14:17:59 +0000

It is time for another look at the impact that mobile has had on the radio industry. Here is an industry that has been kicked out of the kitchen, the bedroom and the office and now clings to their last dedicated spot - the car dash - but seems to be having a resurgence in the mobile world. With streaming music services like Spotify, Pandora and Rdio and streaming radio services like TuneIn, radio is in the middle of its greatest transformation.

Here to talk about where the industry is heading is Patrick Reynolds, the former Chief Strategy Officer at Triton Digital (acquired by Vector Capital after the recording of this episode). This is Patrick's fourth tour of duty on UNTETHER.tv and there is a reason for that. The insight and clarity he brings to us about what is happening to "new radio" and the influence that mobile is having on it is second to none.

Full show notes can be found here.

Gadget commerce

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 14:59:56 +0000

First we had normal, everyday commerce, then came ecommerce and mobile commerce and now we are entering the realm of gadget commerce. Chuck takes us on a tour of the things that are emerging as payment tools - from your wrist to your wallet - the way we pay is about to change once again.

Message on a bottle...or around a chocolate bar...or in steam + Alan Wizemann of Target

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 11:33:18 +0000

Welcome to episode #227. On the show: Message on a Medea bottle; Audi's steam-powered billboard; Co-working in your best friend's mom's basement; Revmetrixs brings all your data together; Plenti rewards loyalty; Five Boros Chocolate map packaging; Oreo's solar eclipse; E-lance for dog walkers; TransitScreen does what it's name says; Pivot brings the past to life. Our special guest is Alan Wizemann – VP of Product – Target. Our deep dive is on local services 2.0.

Full show notes can be found here.

What does Facebook's foray into peer-to-peer payments mean for the industry

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 11:40:53 +0000

Peer to peer payments have been tried before with some success. Companies like Venmo and PayPal have been doing it for years so what is the impact of a company like Facebook entering the market? Chuck puts Facebook's move into perspective using the evolution and adoption rate of some of the other pioneering mobile payments companies and what this means for the industry as a whole.

How Adidas uses NFC to sell more shoes

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 11:28:55 +0000

How can NFC help sell Adidas shoes? At an OMMA conference at SXSW Jon Werner of Adidas explained the use of NFC embedded inside of their shoes and how it helps consumers find useful information before, during and after the sale. Chuck highlights the key points from his presentation here.

Leading retailers say the mobile experience trumps the technology

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 12:10:30 +0000

At the recent OMMA conference at SXSW a distinct trend emerged from the leading thinkers and practitioners of mobile tech in retail - the experience of their customers trumps the use of technology. This is welcome news as most are leading with technology and then figuring out a way for it to fit in their customer's lives. Chuck highlights what Lowe's and Alex & Ani are doing to use mobile to connect with their customers. These are great lessons as both companies are on the forefront of mobile strategy for retail.

It's all about the face

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 15:57:53 +0000

Welcome to episode #226. On the show: Spayce App; Cold Savings from Mark's Work Wearhouse; Ambygear smart watch for kids; Glympse for cars; Pay with a smile from Alibaba; Ocean Outdoor partners to help bring awareness to spousal abuse; Tag Heuer says they want to launch a smart watch (but Rob doesn't believe them); Virtual Beacons from SmartFocus (and Asif doesn't believe them); OneVisage's SelfieLogin (really); Popeye's Red Stick Staredown.

Full show notes can be found here.

Live from SXSW it's RetailLoco

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 14:02:26 +0000

Welcome to episode #225. This episode was recorded the morning after RetailLoco at SXSW in Austin - the twice annual Location Based Marketing conference. Asif and Rob highlight some of the key points that emerged from the conference as well as offer their take on what this means to businesses - both retail and technology. The episode also features video vignettes from some of the delegates and speakers about their take on the event and the industry. Live from SXSW, it's RetailLoco

Mobile shopping habits from around the world

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 14:33:17 +0000

A recent comScore study done on behalf of UPS dove deep into the global habits of mobile shoppers. The study surveyed over 19,000 people around the world and the main points that focused on mobile commerce are highlighted here by Chuck.

The first 120 days - Loren Hillberg's transition from advisor to President of Thinknear

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 12:20:24 +0000

Here's a first after 561 previous episodes: I've never interviewed anyone that has replaced a startup founder within the same company. I have had a few repeat guests but they are still the guys running the show or, in some cases, running a new show. This time around that isn't the case. The company is the same but the guy running it isn't.

The "guy" in question is Loren Hillberg and the company in question is Thinknear - the company previously started, run and sold to Telenav by Eli Portnoy (now co-founder of Sense360).

So, this is a unique episode as is a good portion of the content. We do dive into the quarterly Location Score Index report that Thinknear releases identifying the accuracy of location-based ad inventory (SO important). We do pontificate on the relevance of search and the impact that relevance, context and location will have on the way we "find" things. We do look at trends that are affecting location based marketing. We do talk about the history of the company (Loren was on the acquiring side with Telenav when they bought Thinknear). Where it is unique is when we talk about the transition from advisor to President and GM and Loren's first 120 days in the role.

This is a very candid snapshot of a company growing in size and importance in our industry.

Full show notes can be found here.

The mobile payments soup

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 12:15:44 +0000

In case you hadn't noticed, there is a serious focus these days on mobile payments. It has become, in relative terms, much easier to add payments to an app today than ever before and companies are doing just that. There are some clear leaders emerging in Apple Pay, Google Wallet and Samsung but the fight is far from over. Chuck highlights the state of mobile payments and what the future holds for the industry. Well, the near future anyway, the rest is too hard to predict.

Live on Meerkat...it's TWiLBM

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 13:58:04 +0000

Welcome to episode #224. We live-streamed on Meerkat so you don't have to wait for the actual edited version...On the show: Uber acquired deCarta; Subway Canada partners with Turnstyle; Amazon will print your product on delivery; Vistarmedia partners with Instantly; PayPal buys Paydiant; Roadie and Waffle House team on deliveries; AdShel drops 3000 beacons across Australia; Facesin lets you stalk your sales targets; Visa, Accenture and Pizza Hut team to order pizza from your car; Magic lets you order anything from SMS + Chuck Martin explains what went wrong with Softcard and we dive into the expectations about our real-time economy.

Full show notes can be found here.

How mobile sensors will bring a new layer of context and relevance to marketing - with Sense360 co-founder Eli Portnoy

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 11:57:29 +0000

When location based marketing emerged on the radar for marketers it changed the game. Bringing contextual, localized ads to a person within proximity to the business who's ad they were staring at - and not the person 5 miles away - was revolutionary. This ushered in the world of mass one-to-one mobile marketing. Right in the middle of this revolution was Eli Portnoy. You may recognize him as the founder of Thinknear (and 4-time UNTETHER.tv guest) and he is back on the show, this time talking about his new start up, Sense360.

Sense360 takes contextual understanding to a new level, using all the sensors within the average smartphone to help create experiences that are situationally aware.

This episode can be broken into 3 parts: What Eli saw in the marketplace to decide to leave Thinknear and take on the task at hand with Sense360. The "myth of the download" that has led so many good companies astray. The concept of "good push" and how using sensors with location and context can make a good mobile experience a great mobile experience.

Eli was ahead of the industry when he dove into location-based advertising and now is ahead of the pack once again on using the sensors in our phones to help make marketing and advertising better - to turn it into a service for good. The examples Eli brings to light and deep knowledge that he shares in this episode gives us all a great insight into where this industry is going.

Full show notes can be found here.

Digital products have become the mobile commerce gateway drug

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 12:00:41 +0000

With all the focus on physical product sales from mobile, we should not forget the digital side of mobile sales - which is still growing at an incredible pace. Books, music, movies and apps are driving billions of dollars in mobile sales and are the gateway to more mobile commerce growth. Chuck highlights a recent eMarketer study that shows this growth.

We OWN our privacy...in case we forgot

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:43:34 +0000

Welcome to episode #223. On the show: Subscribe to the Cow & Quince; Drones in LA scraping cell signals; Johnnie Walker's smart label from Thinfilm; Domino's knows...what your tummy is telling you; Beam Wallet brings beacon-based payments to the UAE; Google Wallet to roll out on all carriers - thanks to Softcard acquisition; Edible wearables from Dole; Heather Shaw's Circuitry of Life; AT&T sells you your privacy; Gyroscope Innovations vies for being your life's dashboard.

Full show notes can be found here.

How Gymtrack will change the gym and how 500 Startups changed their business - with co-founder Lee Silverstone

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 15:21:45 +0000

Every once in a while a company comes along that stitches a few of my favourite things together to form a cool business and this just happens to be one. What happens when you take the gym (fitness), the quantified self (data) and the Internet of Things and jam them together? Gymtrack, that's what.

Lee Silverstone is the co-founder and co-CEO of this Ottawa-based startup that is approaching the whole gym tracking industry from a different angle. Instead of equipping the body with cyborg-like wearable tech, Lee and his team went straight for the stack...of weights...with their connected offerings. A strong approach and, from what I can see, a unique one as well.

This is the story of where the idea came from; how they ended up in 500 Startups and how that impacted their thinking of the business; how they went from believing $100K could build an empire to wanting to build a $1 billion company out of Gymtrack and how they raised their $2.5 million seed round. This plus a bunch of meathead talk makes this one of my favourite episodes to date.

Full show notes can be found here.

47% have purchased from their phone

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 21:16:44 +0000

According to a new PWC study, almost half of us have made a purchase from our phones - that is up from 30% just 2 short years ago. The study examines how often we buy from our phones and what we actually do with them during the purchase process. Chuck summarizes the key finding in under 2 minutes here. Plus, we discuss what to do about the #1 concern from consumers about using their phones to purchase product.

Location + wearables = the re-invention of marketing

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 18:08:17 +0000

Welcome to episode #222. On the show: Beijing Municipal Administration launching wearable transit passes; Samsung buys LoopPay; Smartstones touch; Branch Out launches digital detox movement; Skoda uses augmented reality to sell cars; Travel by helicopter with Gotham Air; Urgent.ly trying to be the Uber for tow trucks; FCC adopts new rules for indoor location accuracy for 911 calls; Word Map brings language origin; Mattel and Google are bringing back the Viewmaster.

Full show notes can be found here.

How mobile broke marketing & why it will fix it

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 21:24:32 +0000

It may seem odd that we think that mobile broke marketing but it did. Honestly. The reasons are plentiful but this is a natural occurrence in the evolution of the craft of marketing. Each new shift brings with it this type of creative destruction - think about the shifts that have occurred as we moved from print to radio to television to the web to mobile. Each step along this path has been met with a total change in the way we market - mobile is no different yet it is the most disruptive because it is mobile.

Good and confused? Watch on.

How does retail stand up to the barrage of mobile – with futurist Doug Stephens

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 20:12:17 +0000

Has retail turned a corner in the last 2 years? Have retailers been able to really understand the many threats that they are facing and begin to address them the best they can? Is software really eating retail? Why are malls getting bigger and retailers spending more money in physical space? Do they stand a chance against their digital brethren? Is retail as we know it doomed?

To answer these questions - and many others - is author and retail futurist Doug Stephens (also known as the Retail Prophet). This conversation takes us around the retail world and covers emerging markets, emerging trends and emerging technology that will change the face of retail as we know it.

Full show notes can be found here.

How the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival uses beacons

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 11:52:40 +0000

Bonnaroo has long been a destination for music lovers and musicians alike. Over 80,000 people descend in Manchester, Tennessee in early summer for 4 days to watch some of the biggest names in music. It is also a haven for the early adoption of technology that we talk about here - RFID and beacons included. While the veneer of the event holds true to a traditional music festival, the way they use the technology is a great lesson for everyone. You see, they aren't pushing product, they are enhancing the experience. Chuck gives us the details in this episode.

Live from Asif's vacation + RJ Talyor of Geofeedia

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 17:19:46 +0000

Welcome to episode #221. On the show: ScreenPop adds messages to your lock screen; Knorr soup beacons you; ESRI launches ArcGIS Open Data website; Rockbot Anthem; Guidekick; Fans on Foot. Chuck Martin stops by to discuss Groupon getting into beacons and our special guest is RJ Talyor of Geofeedia.

Full show notes can be found here.

Privacy re-imagined for the mobile age

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 19:30:26 +0000

The privacy issue has been slowly bludgeoned to death since we first set foot on digital soil yet slowly but surely we have all given up parts of it for different reasons. The fact is that we all have a price in mind when someone asks us for our personal information - it could be a latte or a discount or a new car - there is a threshold where "no" becomes "yes" and the price is our privacy. Perhaps we have come to accept the truth that privacy as we knew it is dead but why should we accept the current value affixed to it by others? Why should someone else determine that on our behalf?

Instead of accepting that our privacy is dead or to wrestle for control of it in an ever-connected world, why not change the rules of how information is shared and what the value IS of that information? In our 3rd prediction we contemplate the future of privacy and how we may be able to arm ourselves for what is to come while, perhaps, earning revenue from sharing what is rightfully ours.

Why engagement is the key to mobile gaming success - with Fuel founder Alan Price

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 12 Feb 2015 16:04:17 +0000

I'm old enough to remember Marathon - one of the first (and best) multiplayer shoot 'em up games for the Mac back in the 90's. The company I was a partner at would stay late after work and even show up on weekends to play against each other. This left a lasting impression on me as I set out from that company and it is a premise that our guest, Alan Price, used as the basis for his new company, Fuel.

Fuel helps bring the multiplayer to games because, as I found out all those years ago and countless new generation of gamers find out every single day, playing games together is more fun than playing them alone. This goes for console games, computer games and mobile games. In fact, as we discuss in this episode, it may be the one thing that brings longevity to games that otherwise would fade away much faster.

Mobile gaming is a tough business because it is so competitive which makes engagement one of the - if not THE - single most important aspects of the game. It brings people back more often, keeps them in the game longer and makes the viral opportunity more realistic. Don't take my word for it, take it from the guy that helped EA build some of their greatest franchises based on this very concept.

Full show notes can be found here.

These beacons help send messages that matter

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 13:44:25 +0000

Beacons have emerged as the hope of retailers across the land but the true mark of a lasting technology is how quickly it morphs and adapts to new industry. Chuck features the work of a beacon startup, Gelo, and how they are using beacons to help their clients in the industrial commercial markets. From trucking and bus transportation to museum tours - beacons are taking on new roles and proving to be tremendously useful beyond retail.

Stockholm Syndrome + Loren Hillberg of Thinknear

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 18:29:51 +0000

Welcome to episode #220. On the show: Indoo.rs partners with KLM; Factual and Metadata partner; Capital Radio + Outdoor Plus bring music to billboards in real time; Alibaba tests drone delivery; Wheely's Cafe sells modern coffee carts; Carlsberg BarBandit tap lottery; Starbucks + Match.com = Valentine's date; Sportsman Tracker is funded; Yahoo! + Flickr = Wetter; TripAdvisor buys ZeTrip; PayPal invests in Pulsate. Special guest Loren Hillberg of Thinknear on their latest Location Score Index results.

Full show notes can be found here.

Why mobile is so damn hard

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 20:34:20 +0000

Don't get confused by the title here. We still love mobile. We still think it has changed the world we live in more than many of us realize yet. We still think we are in the soft foam of the real mobile wave that is yet to come. BUT what has happened in the last 18 months is that mobile has gotten more complex as more and more people make it a central part of their business.

The reality is that doing mobile properly today is very difficult. We have systems that have been in place inside of companies for years - things like CRM - and systems that are new to this world because of mobile that are trying to somehow talk with those older legacy systems. This causes friction, tension and a whole lot of duplicate data.

So what do we do? That's what we talk about in this episode. Don't give up, just adjust what you are trying to do. Don't stop, just start at the right place that will have the most impact on your business with the least complexity. The one thing that is true, the longer you wait, the longer you analyze, the longer you spend deciding your strategy, the more fuel you are adding to your competitor's fire. Stoke your own. It's damn hard but so is the regret you'll have if you don't start now.

How to bridge mobile and digital out of home advertising - with Vistar CEO Michael Provenzano

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 21:36:31 +0000

There is a goal of good advertising: To reach the right consumer at the right time to drive action. This really hasn't changed much since the first ad was created, it has just gotten a whole lot more complex. The technology, the screens, the sheer volume of miles we travel, the options and, of course, the tools consumers use to decide and sellers use to broadcast on. Welcome to an ecosystem of choice, confusion and massive opportunity.

Mobile has introduced us to interactive, contextual advertising and, for most of its life, has been limited to the small screen we carry around. These days big data, digital screens and beacons married with good CRM software leads to a wealth of online AND offline abilities - exactly where Michael Provenzano and his company Vistar Media call home.

Vistar Media is an advertising platform that enables brands to reach consumers in the real-world. They take data collected throughout our day from carriers, crunch it through their software and produce actionable outcomes for their advertisers and that is what we discuss in this episode. Understanding the impact of this type of business is important and Michael fills us in on how consumers, advertisers and businesses will benefit from cross-screen strategies.

Full show notes can be found here.

Beacons as the concierge

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 13:46:55 +0000

Beacons have spent their short existence in the push business. They are installed on walls, API'd in apps and notifications start rolling out. Could those same beacons be used to help understand our needs more ahead of time and be triggered just when the thing we REALLY want is within reach? One company, Taonii, things so. Here's their story on how they are turning the beacon into a personal concierge.

Facebook getting down and phygical + Adarsh Pallian of Trippeo

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 21:16:58 +0000

Welcome to episode #219. On the show: Samsung moves into mobile payments; Adobe's Target and Campaign services; Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act; Drones for Good; Maponics Communities; Unacast & TCS partner; Merrell moves into virtual reality; American Express + HUSH; Facebook Place Tips; Dallas Mavericks partner with Tixsee + Adarsh Pallian of Trippeo

Full show notes can be found here.

How Trippeo is using mobile and context to kill manual expense management - with co-founder Adarsh Pallian

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 14:30:57 +0000

Over 4 years have passed since Adarsh Pallian did his first episode on UNTETHER.tv. At that point, in December of 2010, he was six months into his first startup Geotoko. By the fall of 2011 he had sold his company to another startup - Hootsuite - and settled in for a couple of years of one of the wildest startup rides you can experience in Canada. Oh, by the way, he basically sold his company by text message.

Today Adarsh is embarking on his latest startup, Trippeo - an automated travel expense service with a heavy mobile component. He has raised a small angel round from some of the silicon valley elite and recently launched version 1 of his product. This episode covers the 4 years since we last spoke including the reasons why he sold Geotoko, why he started Trippeo, how he raised his angel round, what challenges he faced building out the product, how he priced his service and where he wants to take Trippeo as a business.

Full show notes can be found here.

The 3 ways to interact with beacons today

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 13:40:19 +0000

There are now 3 ways to interact with beacons today: Passive, active and requested. Chuck gives us some examples of each and helps us understand the difference between them all.

Cuddles Inc. + Eli Portnoy of Sense360

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 19:20:42 +0000

Welcome to episode #218. On the show: Microsoft HoloLens and Inconspicuous Mode; ShopX gives away 1 million beacons for free; SpaceBillboard; Bud Light's beer delivery app; Google Translate in real time; Sense360 launches and raises $2.5 million; Bluebite partners with Lamar to make LaBite; Skin & Bones from the Smithsonian; Is Google buying SoftCard?; Shazam can beacon now. Our special guest is Eli Portnoy of Sense360.

Full show notes can be found here.

2015 will finally be the year of social...payments

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 12:22:31 +0000

Do you think the people talked about bank notes when they emerged in 1861 the way that we talk about mobile payments today? Were they proclaiming that 1862 would be the "year of cash"? That's how I feel about the way we bring mobile payments into the conversation - like it needs to have higher status than the way we've paid for things forever. It doesn't, it is just another form of paying. 3 years from now it will just be another option at the pump.

What makes mobile payments interesting are the companies that are changing their business models - or forcing others to do just that. Companies like Starbucks who own the #1 mobile payments app in North America or Venmo and Twitter who are making the things we buy social currency.

Greg and I feel 2015 will not only bring with it new advances in the way we pay but also in what we consider currency. The dollar bill has rivals and, for the first time in centuries, they aren't coins.

How mobile brought the chaos to media - with GigaOm senior writer Mathew Ingram

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 12:04:02 +0000

Does print survive? This seems like a very important question but, in reality, the only people asking it these days are the guys doing print. The rest of the world seems to have moved on and by moving on I mean moved to digital or mobile.

The truth is that print and digital are just forms of the same thing but the thing that has changed more dramatically than the way we consume media is the way it is created and shared. This is where the conversation with GigaOm Senior writer Mathew Ingram moves quickly. Mathew has a very unique perspective having spent a huge portion of his career writing for Canada's national newspaper, The Globe and Mail. He jumped over to GigaOm about 5 years ago and hasn't looked back or reconsidered his move.

Our conversation jumps from his move to GigaOm, his take on the news/media industry as a whole today, what companies he's looking at for inspiration (or that will change media once again), the impact that mobile has had on his profession (as a consumer and creator) and a number of incredible insights into his craft.

This episode, for me anyway, is a look at what the future of the media industry will look like: Part amazing creator, part amazing marketer, part amazing community builder and part media personality.

Full show notes can be found here.

The big mobile themes from NRF

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 13:41:17 +0000

Disruption and change were the key themes at the annual "Big Show" - NRF in New York last week. On the news that Target and Sony are closing down all their stores in Canada and the rumours of the demise of Radio Shack, Chuck offers his thoughts on what he witnessed at NRF. He also highlights the thing that no one is talking about to each other - but they are to him.

SOBIZCOM + Jonathan Berlin of Iconeme

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 20:05:17 +0000

Welcome to episode #217. On the show: Panasonic reinvents the retail shelf; the Locr platform; Moovit closes $50m to help public transportation; Snapchat for business?; Deehubs makes us all vandals; Softcard deflating?; Uber Cargo launches in Hong Kong; RetailNext and StepsAway; Path Talk pretty; Je Suis Charlie app. Our special guest is Jonathan Berlin of Iconeme.

Full show notes can be found here.

Beacons will make a big impact in 2015

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 14:07:08 +0000

This is our first (of seven) dives into our 2015 predictions (watch the overview here) and we start with beacons. Those little peel-and-stick bluetooth transmitters that emerged in the second half of 2014 in retail will go far beyond their origins in 2015. We both weigh in on where we think they will be by the end of the year and what the industry will look to them to do - beyond pushing deals and annoying customers.

Why all eTail eventually goes to retail - with Ryan Craver

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 17:53:02 +0000

Remember that old saying "hang out your shingle"? It meant to start up a business because the only type of business that could be conceived was one that required a physical place. The saying derived from truth back then and lots of companies were born into that world as shingle owning retail locations. Physical stores. All those years ago it was how business was done.

We all know that has changed in incredible ways - for the consumer. For those retailers that still cling to the shingle part of the equation, these last few years have been somewhat of a challenge (understated for effect). At one point we were all roaming the digital streets with virtual pitchforks waiting to celebrate the death of traditional, shingle'd retail. Well, that did not happen. Sure, retail has taken it on the chin. Sure, some of the oldest, most legacy-filled shingle's have become landfill. But the most heinous word ever spoken underneath a shingle - one that sent little kids running for cover and store owners cowering in discount fear - no longer carries the same weight. Amazon is no longer the boogyman to all and to many, they are a new way of doing business.

One such business just happens to be the oldest retailer in North America - the Hudson's Bay Company up here in Canada and Lord & Taylor down in the United States. They started experimenting with beacons early in their lifecycle and, in so doing, started putting the innovation and cool back into the shingle business. The guy that spearheaded the beacon initiative and watched it roll out across North America is Ryan Craver and he's the guest for this episode.

To understand the flight of the beacon, you must first understand the plight of the retail industry and Ryan is our guide as we get a pretty amazing behind-the-scenes look at a retail giant as it arms up to fight the battle of its life.

Full show notes can be found here.

Forget mobile, 2015 is the year of bluetooth

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 15:58:20 +0000

There was a distinctly blue layer over CES this year - as in Bluetooth. What is old is new again and bluetooth is one of those protocols that never really caught on when it arrived but it seems to now have hit its stride. Chuck explains what the importance of the emerging bluetooth ecosystem is on beacons and highlights some of the products he saw while walking the halls of the bluetooth pavilion.

We are all lazy and cheap and about to be replaced by robots

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 16:39:48 +0000

Welcome to episode #216. On the show: WiFi Aware; The RealTalk app; GM's At Your Service; TapSense for Apple Watch; Robots invade Lowe's; Jawbone wants corporations to move more; VoucherPages launches an app; Yummly + Instacart = 1 hour ingredient delivery; Skyhook partners with FiLIP Technologies; Piste.io 3D maps of ski hills. Our guest this week is Woycjech Gryc, founder of Canopy Labs

Full show notes can be found here.

The Product Show: 3 mobile tools to make 2015 your year of learning

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 14:26:09 +0000

It is that time of the year again - the dreaded new year's resolution. Our resolutions usually hover around 3 things: Health, wealth and education. Today we look at using mobile technologies to stimulate your brain and to enhance learning. These resources are, for the most part, free and accessible from any device you may carry. Make 2015 your year of learning with these resources.

7 mobile marketing predictions for 2015

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 15:57:18 +0000

We are now a full week into 2015 - how are those resolutions going? Every new year brings an onslaught of predictions and, well, we are no different. This is the first of 8 (yes 8!) shows on what to expect in 2015. We start off here with an overview of our 7 predictions and will follow up each of the next 7 weeks with a deeper dive into each one of them. For now, here (along with everyone else) are our things to watch out for in 2015 if you are a part of the mobile marketing world (incidentally, that is everyone...)

How mobile impacts productivity - with Getting Things Done author David Allen

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 17:26:23 +0000

There are times when I look down at my vibrating watch or hear that universal notification ping on our desktop or tablet and wonder if all this tech, all this mobile, has really made us more productive. I mean, I get 150 emails a day and process 10 of them to satisfaction. I get 500 text messages, 100 DMs and a bunch of notifications from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. All these notifications are telling me something, adding to my task list or just cluttering up my mind. Am I right? Are you feeling that way as well?

Like many of you who would be interested in UNTETHER.tv, I went out and found my productivity methodology in David Allen's Getting Things Done. It resonated with me like it did with millions of others and each year I get deeper into my practice of it. But I wondered what the impact of all those bells and bings and things popping up and over do to productivity. I wondered if it made sense to be always connected, always accessible and always adding to my inbox. I wondered so much that I figured I would ask the guy who has helped clear my mind for over 10 years - David Allen himself.

This episode looks at how mobile and digital technologies have impacted our ability to get things done and is full of great insight and thinking for all of us - whether we practice GTD or not. As David says in the episode, much of what we face today with the latest technologies forces us to get our lives in order, to free our mind to be creative.

It was a joy to sit with David for this time and this episode will help you understand how important having something to process all the information you gather will become more and more a competitive advantage.

Full show notes can be found here.

Mobile dominates Amazon sales over the holidays

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 15:02:57 +0000

Joyful. That's how I would classify Amazon's mobile shopping season. Fearful is how I would think of it if I was any other retailer who hasn't embraced mobile yet. Amazon released their mobile shopping stats for the holidays and it is dominated by mobile. Chuck runs down the key numbers for us here and gives us his experience with a Bed Bath & Beyond store that lost his business to Amazon - a warning to all retailers. My favourite stat? On Cyber Monday, 18 toys per second were sold from the Amazon mobile app - that's over 1.5 million toys for the day...Joyful for the children indeed.

Sirius, Cicret and Samsung kick off an epic start to 2015

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 17:38:30 +0000

Welcome to episode #215. On the show: Danish sensors; PlaceIQ + Starcom partner on SMGMaps; VIPLocum; TempleRun in virtual reality; LuceX3 builds your conscience into a vending machine; SiriusXM targets the connected car; Red/Green app helps plan your social life; Cicret bracelet moves the screen to your skin; Favoire supports social good; Ubudu powers bluetooth mesh network. Plus, the killer app for virtual reality & why beacon data is hard to quantify.

Full show notes can be found here.

Chuck Martin's CES preview show

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Sun, 04 Jan 2015 15:36:11 +0000

Chuck is heading to CES and gives us a comparison of what it was like last year and what he expects it to be like this year. Plus, he highlights some of the things he will be focused on while in Las Vegas.

The future of smartphones: Will we still be using them in 5 years

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 18:05:12 +0000

This is one of the greatest questions any entrepreneur and business person can ponder: Will the smartphone still be the form factor of choice in 5 years? Or, if you are an opportunist, the question would be what is the NEXT opportunity after smartphones? This is the question that Greg asked me as he took over the show.

We'd like to know your answer. What will you be staring into in 5 years?

The grand 2015 location based marketing predictions show

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 13:41:45 +0000

Welcome to episode #214. This is our annual predictions show - a look ahead at the key trends and companies to watch in 2015. We tap into key trends that will emerge in the industry, companies that will thrive and, of course, the companies that will struggle in 2015.

Full show notes can be found here

Beacons make the McDonalds McChicken fly

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 19:10:18 +0000

In late October, McDonalds got into the beacon game. Not all McDonalds, just 17 of them in the Columbus, Georgia area. The results were good enough to prompt them to expand the rollout to another 263 locations. Chuck summarizes the results from the first 17 stores and answers the question about why beacons and why not just hand out coupons instead.

In sickness and in health

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 14:56:17 +0000

Welcome to episode #213. On the show: Factual adds dashboards; State Farm helps identify cars; StreetPong while you wait to cross; Real-time trading platforms from Lamar and Posterscope; Is Foursquare working with Twitter?; Get to orbit with PocketQube; Scandic brings the hotel room to you; RoyalMail gets into 3D printing; M&A news from TuneCore, Qualcomm and Movido plus our resource of the week is the Simon Venture Group accelerator.

Full show notes can be found here.

How to use SMS to increase basket size while giving a discount

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 15:53:23 +0000

There isn't a business on earth that isn't trying to increase the amount of money their customers spend with them. Well, maybe there are but they won't be in business for long. The thing is, there are so many tools that can be used to do this that give value to the business AND their customers and leave both feeling great at the end. SMS is one of those tools and Greg walks us through something he calls the "Cash Back Formula" that works to help increase the average spend while giving a discount. Confused? Watch and learn.

The Product Show: 3 mobile products to help you keep healthy in 2015

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 16:49:48 +0000

It is that time of the year again - the dreaded new year's resolution. Our resolutions usually hover around 3 things: Health, wealth and relationships. Today, we are tackling health and we highlight 3 mobile apps and services that can help you watch what you eat, move more and get fit.

How mobile brings private coaches and athletes together - with CoachUp founder Jordan Fliegel

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 16:25:38 +0000

Inspired. That's how I left this episode. Completely inspired. Jordan Fliegel is the founder of CoachUp, a company that helps match athletes (or wanna be athletes) with professional coaches. Not just any type of coach but some of the most elite athletes-turned-coaches in the United States. His company has attracted over 13,000 coaches and they are all available to help you achieve your athletic goals.

With the growing popularity of coaching applications strewn across mobile - where the emphasis seems to be on peer-to-peer apps, CoachUp focuses on using mobile to help bring coach and student together, in real life. There are a number of ways this happens and they all happen on mobile. From finding a coach, to a coach setting appointments and getting paid, the CoachUp app is at the centre and is the glue that binds the two sides together.

Jordan's journey is a great story of a pro athlete - who was influenced by coaching his whole life - moving from the court to the front office (sorry!).

Full show notes can be found here.

The Take makes shopping a part of the movie-going experience

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 12:20:24 +0000

If you've ever been watching a movie and wondered what brand of watch the lead was wearing or what car they were driving or where they were eating lunch then The Take is for you. Chuck explains how this app brings you a little closer to being a part of the movie experience while cataloging and selling the brands found inside a film.

Location-based causes

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 15:22:55 +0000

Welcome to episode #212. On the show: Live deals on posters; TGI Fridays' drone attack; Health Insurance benefits with Misfit; Search as signal by Mindshare and Google; Leave your stuff at the Hyatt - in Australia; Maps on clothes with Monochome; Feed America with Jawbone and Quaker Oats; Pop-up Libraries; Smart screens by Photon and Panasonic; eBay Australia's 24-hour Christmas Windows.

Full show notes can be found here

The Product Show: 4 products to personalize your Christmas gifts

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 17:10:11 +0000

Stuck for great ideas for Christmas presents? Ian Klassen joins us from a Starbucks in Seattle to show us how 4 companies can help you find and personalize gifts that will be cherished, eaten or worn by your loved ones. Yes, eaten.

How app impact can make or break your mobile app

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 19:37:11 +0000

Do you know what the true cost is of your app? Not the baked costs - labour, assets, distribution, marketing - those are easy and visible. The costs we are talking about are the subtle ones that have the biggest impact. Battery consumption, data consumption, processor consumption. They are killers when it comes to the cost of experience and need to be part of your equation when looking to build a successful app. Here's why you should be considering these as you build and refine your app.

My first year in a mobile startup with Lowdown co-founder David Senior

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 15:44:56 +0000

David Senior doesn't hold back. He is the co-founder of a new kind of service that helps put your upcoming meetings in context called Lowdown. We get to that in this episode, as well as their newest app release called Here, but the real reason you NEED to watch or listen to this episode is for the truth. The truth about how difficult it is to find good advice that is worth listening to. The truth about how hard it is to build a company with staying power in this era of temporary companies. How hard it is to equip yourself to compete globally. How hard this "simple" business of mobile really is.

David says that he asked 100 people their advice over the year he has been building Lowdown and everything they've offered - some of the typical advice you would get from so-called "experts" - was wrong. This last year has been an incredible learning experience for the company and he is offering it up for all of us right here, in this episode.

We talk about the products, the growth hacking he's experimented with, the impact of his appearance on Bloomberg, his philosophy on the right number of customers, his thinking on "lean methodology", what their app ecosystem strategy is and how he maintains his positivity through the ups and downs of running a startup.

I know I think very highly of the guests we have on UNTETHER.tv but this episode with David is one I've listened to a number of times already simply because of the unbelievable insight he brings to that early stage of a startup in the mobile world. If you are building a business in the mobile industry, this is a must watch episode. Prepare to learn.

Full show notes can be found here.

Here is the 90/10 rule for mobile sales

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 13:08:55 +0000

Here is the definitive number for you in the ongoing "mobile app versus mobile web" battle being waged in retail provided by Skava: 90% of revenue comes from the mobile web. That is a crazy high number that really does show the importance of nailing that experience for your customers. The problem? If you are a retailer you still need both the mobile web AND a mobile app - unless you can afford to give up the other 10% of revenue (and 15% of visits) that come via the app. These numbers, and more, are what we cover in this episode.

Disarming privacy with charity + Michael Provenzano of Vistar Media

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 17:29:54 +0000

Welcome to episode #211. On the show: Snapchat opens geofilters to everyone; Barclay's Bank enlists beacons to help customers with disabilities; Cab Share Canada launches; Girl Scout's launch their cookie-finder app; Proxama + Exterion bring beacons to the bus; KLM's "Cover Greetings" campaign; Location Guard for FireFox; The Neighbrhds app; Liberty Stores builds app on Instagram for customer loyalty; Target + Google's Art Copy & code program. Special guest is Michael Provenzano of Vistar Media

Full show notes can be found here.

The Product Show: 3 products that will ensure you get the best price this Christmas

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 16:39:51 +0000

The countdown is on to Christmas - signalled by Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you were out there you know that insanity that comes with it. Sometimes you win with great deals and sometimes you don't. We cover 3 products that you can use right now to help ensure you will receive the best price on your products. Shopping doesn't have to be war, these 3 products will equip you with the information you need to make the right tactical strikes and get home before the crowds descend.

How to use cross-promotion to increase mobile app installs

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 04 Dec 2014 13:39:52 +0000

Cross-promotion, which involves the practice of setting up apps that promote each other to their audiences, is a wonderful, free way to promote your app. In practice, app developers advertise each other’s apps via advertising placements within those apps. It’s a perfect approach for app developers on a tight budget, And, although there’s no real currency being exchanged between the app developers using this model, the app downloads this promotion strategy can drive are certainly money in the bank for your app business.

We dive deep into the concept or cross-promotion and also bring you a company that can help independent game developers start using this important app promotion tool.

How FUZdesigns Kickstarted their way to over $1.2 million in pre-orders - with co-founder Cameron Gibbs

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 13:12:42 +0000

To succeed with one product on Kickstarter is a challenge but to do it twice is pretty rare - especially if it is two different products. What about 4 times? We've seen many companies bring a second or third version of a successfully crowdsourced project back for a second iteration but our guest today built 4 separate mobile products through Kickstarter within a year.

Cameron Gibbs is the co-founder of FUZdesigns, makers of the EverDock, the beautiful Kickstarter-funded iPhone dock, and the Noke, the Kickstarter-funded bluetooth lock - plus two other smaller projects. We discuss these successes, the inspiration behind the products, the struggle with pricing, the challenges of designing and producing high-quality products overseas, how they decide to build products, the challenges of becoming a hardware AND a software company and even how they managed to raise over $1.2 million in pre-orders within a year.

Full show notes can be found here.

This is how much you will spend from your phone next year

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 13:42:19 +0000

How much do you spend through your smartphone? Well, according to a recent eMarketer study that number is set to double by the end of next year. Chuck highlights the numbers that will see us breaking all kinds of mobile payments records this - and next - year. The biggest thing that will break, though, is your bank according to these numbers.

Amazon, drones and Audi's car sharing service + Retail prophet Doug Stephens

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 18:34:47 +0000

Welcome to episode #210. On the show: Europe is just next door; Hire a plumber from Amazon; Hexoskin's Arctic Smart Shirt; Google takes over Times Square; Drones in TGI Fridays; Shazam goes in-store with Meed Media; Decorate the Crystal Tree from an app; Hike with me + ShowUp make the solo outing a thing of the past; Audi's new car sharing platform; Fujitsu turns light into image recognition. Our resource of the week is 3D printed maps for the blind. Our special guest is Retail prophet Doug Stephens.

Full show notes can be found here.

Google CFO Patrick Pichette on being a Canadian in the Bay

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 22:11:58 +0000

Canadians are everywhere. It's true. We've run the International Space Station, we've won gold medals, play on most NHL hockey teams, have a strong contingent of all-star baseball players, are revered around the globe and, one actually controls the purse strings for the largest and most innovative Internet startup on the planet - Google.

Patrick Pichette is from Montreal and now makes his living as the Chief Financial Officer for Google. I was able to spend a few minutes with him to talk about his journey from Canada to the United States, his views on the opportunities that Canadians have in business, and even managed to snag some advice for wandering Canadians should they choose to head south and west to California.

The top 5 essential mobile marketing stats

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 27 Nov 2014 14:26:22 +0000

Greg is back and bringing with him his top 5 essential mobile marketing stats. The numbers for this episode: 99%, 66%, 43% and 10X.

Why privacy is a killer strategy or an app killer

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 12:30:36 +0000

Privacy is an overused, under implemented strategy for mobile apps these days. There is a lot of talk but very little action. Companies that violate the privacy rights of their users will, at best, feel the wrath of their users and at worst suffer catastrophic (and perhaps business-threatening) outcomes. Think about the fury that UBER has met with recently. There is a drastic difference between having a privacy policy and living it for your users. Real brands understand the need to live by privacy - to defend it at all costs. Do you do this? Do you have a privacy-first approach to your users? Very few mobile app companies do - mostly because it is not easy to implement. Not easy to understand. Not. Easy.

This is the focus of this episode and offers up some great resources to help you set up your privacy-focused organization. This is critical in establishing a level of trust with your users. If you don't, you are leaving money on the table. Watch the episode to understand the impact of not thinking about privacy.

The future of mobile payments - according to Paydiant

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 14:00:55 +0000

Chuck had the opportunity to visit the new Paydiant offices - they are the company behind MCX and Subway's mobile payments app. While there, Chuck was given a tour of their Customer Experience Lab to see the things they are working on when it comes to the future of mobile payments and what he saw was very exciting. This is the summary of his visit and includes Paydiant CEO Chris Gardner's view on the one real battle that merchants should be focused on - and it isn't payments.

Everyone's hooking up + Ryan Craver on beacons

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 14:43:30 +0000

Welcome to episode #209. On the show: LINKNYC replaces payphone with WiFi in NYC; Radio Shack goes back to its roots with Little Bits; LivingSocial lets merchants in on the deal; Groupon acquires in-store analytics company Swarm; Snapchat partners with Square; Spotify partners with Uber; Target Partners with PointInside; Shazam partners with Adspace Networks; WholeFoods creates deeper local engagement with in-store kiosks in Atlanta; United Airlines adds to Miles menu. Our guest is Ryan Craver talking HBC/Lord & Taylor beacon deployments.

Full show notes can be found here.

Why personalization is key to more revenue from your existing customers - with Wojciech Gryc of Canopy Labs

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 17:17:34 +0000

Personalization has been the holy grail for marketers. Remember those early days of the commercial web when it was talked about as a done deal? Well, here we are 20 years later and this craft is really just now emerging as plausible. Why is this? First off, think of the industries that needed to be invented that we really had no idea about when the web had that promise: Mobile, big data, cloud computing - all things that have needed to fall into place in order for real personalization to occur. How naive were we to think all we needed was a cookie...

Toronto-based Canopy Labs is one of the emerging companies that is finally bringing personalization to business through the use of most of the things that weren't invented when this concept was put forward. But, really, when talking with CEO Wojciech Gryc, all they really need is sales history to make their offering work. This episode focuses on the theory of how personalization works and what impact it can have on the bottom line. Wojciech highlights how data can be used properly to help sell, how mobile fills a giant hole, how purchase history is the key predictor and what the optimum personalization experience ought to be.

This episode is much broader than just mobile but is important in order to understand the relevance and effectiveness of targeted communications to your customers. Get the infrastructure right and the platform contributes. Get it wrong and the platform is detrimental.

Full show notes can be found here.

The Product Show: Thanksgiving made easy

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 16:36:08 +0000

American Thanksgiving is almost upon us so we turn our product hunt focus to tools that will make your life easier to feed the hungry masses that will assemble in your dining room. Ian brings us two incredibly innovative products that will make life better and healthier for Thanksgiving and beyond.

How to get your mobile app ready for the holidays

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 16:38:25 +0000

Christmas is upon us and app developers have to move quickly in order to ensure they have a successful download season. Peggy is here to highlight a brand new ebook from Fiksu on techniques to implement right now so that the busiest app season of the year does not pass you by.

What happens after the beacon is when it gets interesting...

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 12:18:57 +0000

Is it possible that we are entering the post-beacon era already? On one end we are still learning the impact that beacons can have on purchase decisions inside of stores but one enterprising company is looking at how beacons fit in the long game. Beinto has recently partnered with Gimbal to use beacons to capture consumer behavioural data in real-time and use it later to serve up more relevant ads and product offerings. Chuck calls this post-beaconing and he goes into detail about that here.

Of digital nomads, connected glass and purpose-driven wearables + Rob Cameron of Moneris

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 16:34:05 +0000

Welcome to episode #208. On the show: Facebook challenges Yelp and Foursquare; Connected Glass by Rebecca Minkoff; The world's smallest GPS chip; Pay with your face; Coupons.com on your Samsung phone; Arki teaches us how to walk; Place Scout for startup people; Aerial Bold; Samsung's Proximity beacons; SocialRadar acquired by Gridskippr. Our special guest is Rob Cameron, Chief Product and Marketing Office at Moneris.

Full show notes can be found here.

Why wearables should be about what you are solving not what you are measuring - with Backtrack co-founder Alex Danco

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 15:45:02 +0000

This is a very interesting episode about the state of the wearable world we are entering in. The product that Alex Danco is building is called Backtrack and it is meant to help you understand progress as you recover from back pain. You affix it to your back, connect (via bluetooth) to their smartphone app and catalog your recovery. This is cool in itself but, as you'll see through this entire episode, the underlying conversation is really about the progression of what a "wearable" is.

Today's popular wearables - including the coming Apple Watch - are generalists. Put it on, gather data like steps taken, stairs climbed, hours slept, standard stuff. The PROBLEM with this is that for most of us this data is not very important UNLESS we are having health issues or we are training for things that elite athletes train for. The rest of us just want to make sure we are doing everything we can do to live a healthy life and, perhaps, recover faster from an injury.

This is where the wearable world and precise, temporary technology meet to help and Alex's company is right in the middle of it. We've all suffered from back pain before and it is a frustrating injury because it seems as though nothing helps and it takes too long to heal. Here's Backtrack to help visualize the healing progress and help us understand what is going on - all from a wearable.

Is this the start of the temporary, targeted wearable? Watch and then answer that question.

Full show notes can be found here.

5 tips to create a perfect mobile call to action with SMS

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 13 Nov 2014 18:12:41 +0000

SMS is a misunderstood piece of the mobile marketing mix. Some say it is dead, some say its impact has yet to be felt. Still others look at its simplicity and dismiss it altogether. We are here to let you in on a secret: SMS, when done properly, is one of the most effective tools mobile has to offer. In this episode, Greg walks us through his top 5 tips to use an SMS call to action. If you are a podcaster, broadcaster or anyone who pushes anything through media, this episode will set you up for success with SMS.

How Tango increased downloads of their mobile game Road Riot by 90%

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 21:01:33 +0000

What is the difference between an app that has moderate downloads versus one that has incredible downloads? A large portion of that is the function of the app but, let's face it, there really hasn't been an app that has stood alone in its category so that is only a part of the reason. What about your icon? What about your advertising? How do those impact the number of downloads of the app? After watching this episode you will understand the impact it has - which is quite considerable if done right.

Will restaurants tip the scale for mobile payment adoption?

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 13:56:25 +0000

Are mobile payments a thing looking for a market or do they signal a real and necessary shift in our paying habits? This question has been haunting the industry since the earliest days of this incredibly young industry. It seems there hasn't been a really compelling reason for the masses to migrate to this, nor has there been a catalyst to help do it. To make this shift, a majority of consumers need to start to experience paying from a mobile device. Could that first experience be through our favourite restaurants?

Obfuscating search

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 17:16:06 +0000

Welcome to episode #207. On the show: Bionym pioneers wearable payments; Factual teams with EQ Works; Digital Element partners with Skyhook; Adsquare raises $4.3M; The NHL is testing virtual Dasherboards; Tip.ly makes tipping a visual thing; Clear Channel offering free content in Singapore; Copresence brings peace to Android and iOS sharing; Boxpark does the pop-up mall; Cloth tells you what to wear; Netflix gets creative with GIFs. Our resource of the week looks at the impact of Apple Pay on Whole Foods.

Full show notes can be found here.

How the Internet of Things can solve a niche problem - with Robin co-founder Sam Dunn

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 16:57:52 +0000

If you ask a room full of people what the definition of "Internet of Things" is you will most likely get a room full of different answers. Not variations of the same answer but completely different answers. So says Sam Dunn, co-founder and CEO of Robin, a company focused on making offices smarter.

Sam and his twin brother Zach have been thinking about the Internet of Things problem for a while and decided to focus on something that we all do far too often: Have meetings. Rather than spread themselves thin as the world tries to define what IoT is, they chose a niche and began using the technologies that make up the broad Internet of Things world to solve a pain we have today. Robin was born.

This episode covers some serious ground starting with the formation of the company, partnering with his twin brother, defininging a product, transitioning from a services company, finding advisors and investors and then finishing with a flurry of IoT talk.

Full show notes can be found here.

How mobile is bringing pro-sports technology to the weekend warrior

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 18:31:53 +0000

If you've watched any major sporting event in the last year you will have noticed the incredible attention to technology and how that has impacted the watching experience. Ultra high-def slow motion, real-time overlays, stats and multiple camera angles are bringing an immersive experience unlike any before. Now, we aren't all pro sports atheletes but there is mobile technology out there that can make us feel like we are and that's our focus of the show. From a drone that follows you to a Google Glass like product for cyclists, we are seeing more and more affordable solutions for the weekend warrior.

How to do PR for your mobile application on the cheap

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 16:34:18 +0000

Success of an app relies on a number of factors including its purpose, the audience, the need and awareness. Each are important and each have been covered over our 20 episodes thus far. The focus today is on one key aspect of awareness - getting your app in front of the right media at the right time. For this, we turn to a new service called PressFriendly. Peggy explains the need for PR and how PressFriendly fills a gap that so needed filling for small and independent app developers around the world.

Of beacon majors and minors

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 13:29:57 +0000

There is no way to hide from beacons these days - they are everywhere. Emerging from the early days of the beaconing, Chuck has made it easy to categorize the two broad types of companies that we are seeing today. Are you ready for Beacon Majors and Beacon Minors?

Be your own bitch

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 16:14:54 +0000

Welcome to episode #206. On the show: Neiman Marcus wants you to snap, find and shop; Cellfind helps the Tears Foundation help victims; Appy Pie's new API; Nomi acquired; Mogl funded; Facebook relaunches Atlas; Swirl rolls out their ad exchange; iHeartRadio vending machine with Instagram; Wall-m(Art) project; Hermes gives us La Maison des Carres; TouchTunes partners with Kinetic Active Exchange. Our resource of the week plots dead famous people thanks to ESRI.

Full show notes can be found here.

How the Internet of Things is turning HVAC into an operating system - with Nicholas Lea of Nortec

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 16:23:50 +0000

I know what you are thinking, what does the heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) industry have to do with the Internet of Things? I had my trepidations heading into this episode as well. Because, really, what can a bunch of guys who balance temperature teach me about mobile and IoT. Right?

Turns out, they aren't as far back in the dark ages as I thought...In fact, they have been waiting for the technology to emerge and become affordable for quite some time.

Meet Nick Lea, Global Product Manager at Nortec Humidity, they build the equipment that helps us stay cool or warm and healthy. His is a grand vision of what was once a simple industry. As he says, they've just about done everything they can to control our environment from an efficiency standpoint, and now they are looking at what's next. That's what this conversation is about. When you think of all the plumbing and infrastructure that goes into homes and building that are equipped with a current and access to a network, the world of HVAC, mixed with a little IoT, becomes VERY interesting.

Full show notes can be found here.

5 things to do immediately to make mobile convert

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 13:58:26 +0000

We are tired of mobile idiocy so we've put together 5 things that you should do right now to make sure your customer doesn't quit on your mobile initiatives. They are simple but it is quite often the simple things that make the most impact. Don't ignore these things, please.

Beware of the silent app killer...

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 16:42:01 +0000

So you've listened to your customers and built the greatest app that does exactly what they want. Kudos. You've also spent money marketing it, partnering properly and generated enough buzz to start the downloads and usage rolling. It seems that all is golden from this point forward, what could go wrong right?

Have you considered performance yet? What happens when your app crashes on launch or is slow to respond to data calls or doesn't take into consideration carrier load or wifi issues? It may not be your fault that all this happens but, in the eyes of your customer, it is 100% on you and the impact could be catastrophic.

Have no fear, Peggy is here to walk us through the things you should be doing to ensure this doesn't happen.

Will beacons make department stores into mobile ad networks?

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 01:17:28 +0000

We've all been focusing on beacons as a way to help retailers reach and sell to the customers that are floating around inside their stores. We've thought of beacons as a way to draw trafic from window displays to the cash register. We've thought of beacons as primarily a push game to help retailers increase basket size. Perhaps we've been thinking of beacons the wrong way.

Swirl, the beacon company that Lord & Taylor and HBC have hitched with is thinking of beacons in a whole different way and Chuck highlights why this is so significant to large retailers going forward. Hint: It rhymes with "shmu fevenrue".

I'm a whole lot of (Retail)Loco

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 14:30:24 +0000

Welcome to episode #205. On the show: Our wrap from RetailLoco in Chicago includes 3 great interviews with Matthew Kulig of Aisle411, Charlie Larkin of GameStop and Elise Neel of Mapquest. Top stories of the week include Vistar Media's cross-screen ad platform; John Lewis testing the Oculus Rift; The Bluesmart suitcase; AboutPlace going into beta; Whirlpool partnering with Gigwalk; Prizm's contextual music device.

Full show notes can be found here.

How mobile is bringing illness diagnosis and prevention to our living room

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Sat, 25 Oct 2014 12:11:43 +0000

If there is one thing that the H1N1 and Ebola outbreaks have shown us it is that prevention and early detection are key to helping stop their spread. In this, our second episode examining the use of mobile in our lives, we explore the mobile technology that is helping us understand our own health - and those around us - to help us stop worrying or start treating as soon as possible.

Full show notes can be found here:

Why now is the time to build a virtual reality company - with irisVR co-founders Shane Scranton and Nate Beatty

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 13:44:33 +0000

We’ve heard so much about virtual reality lately - brought on by the massive exit that Oculus had at the hands of Facebook. All signs point to an industry on the verge of something but we aren’t quite sure what that something will be or even look like. It could be a massive gaming platform, it could be an adjunct to entertainment (think movies and concerts), it could even be the future of education but we aren’t at all sure yet. It could be all or none of those.

To help clear this up are IRISVR co-founders Shane Scranton and Nate Beatty.

Their company focuses on helping architects get their plans - their visions - into a virtual reality environment. A niche business now but one that is ripe as we speak and could lead to much more down the road.

This episode looks at their business today and quickly dives into the world of possibilities that augmented reality could be in the future. Is VR going to be the next great platform as some say? It may be too soon to tell but with guys like this leading the charge my hunch says real life is about to get augmented and blurred.

Full show notes can be found here.

Why mobile needs to be a part of your strategy but NOT your only strategy

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 17:30:29 +0000

The great thing about understanding mobile is knowing that it is not now - nor may it ever be - the end game we thought it was meant to be.

Huh?

Mobile is an incredibly important part of an overall strategy and that strategy needs to be baked before getting into mobile anything. We've seen so many companies dive head-first into mobile and then, once they are hip deep into a project, try to figure out where it fits in their business. This won't work now and it won't work tomorrow. This will never ever work.

Instead of thinking that mobile is the end game, you should be thinking about how mobile intertwines within your current strategy and how it can enhance that strategy. Think of mobile as an onramp if need be or somewhere else during the consumer journey but mobile, by itself, is not the answer.

Watch this quick episode to understand how mobile can wrap itself around and support business strategy and why it should never be alone and unsupported.

The most over looked revenue strategy for Android developers

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 21:32:49 +0000

The goal of every app developer is to attract as many users as possible to their app. Which is why it's really important to explore - and enjoy the benefits of alternative app stores if you have an Android app. Why? Because - although the majority of app developers may view placement in Google Play as the best way to achieve mass market reach and distribution for their Android apps, the numbers — and news — tell a different story. The raft of companies out there running app stores as a huge part of their wider business strategy — from Amazon to Yandex, and Samsung to China's counterpart to Google, Baidu — should send a clear message to app developers that it is crucial to cast a wide net and think globally.

This episode highlights the reasons why it thinking beyond the borders of "mainstream" app stores is imperative and one of the most important strategies you can follow.

Retailers are FINALLY losing sleep over mobile commerce

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 13:31:21 +0000

There should be no doubt of the importance of mobile commerce today. The fact that retail executives are now losing sleep over it is a sign that the magnitude of the opportunity is starting to sink in. Chuck summarizes the key findings from the third annual retail benchmark surveys by Retail Systems Research that details this and other key findings.

Gestures, crisps and Stuart Smalley's playbook

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 12:18:00 +0000

Welcome to episode #204. On the show: SideSwipe's gestures; FritoLays hands out samples in bus shelters; Pinpoint offers location-based audio game; Geofeedia and Adnear raise; TomTom opens up; Chico's embraces RFID; Loopd brings beacons to conferences; Lufthansa's augmented premium seats; Yondr's phone-free zones; Ikea's motivational mirror. Plus, what happened to Hailo and why RFID in a world of beacons.

Full show notes can be found here.

How Plastic Mobile's Innovation Lab turns ideas into mobile products - with Sep Seyedi and Jason Hyde

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 14:08:21 +0000

Plastic Mobile is a Toronto-Canada based Mobile agency that has done work with venerable brands such as Pizza Pizza, Air Miles and Beyond The Rack. Since inception in 2007 they've seen everything imagenable when it comes to the evolution of the mobile industry. Because of this longevity and success, I always wondered how they keep on top of what is going on at the same time as keeping abreast of the things that will impact them - and their customers - in the near future as well. A hard thing to juggle. A hard thing to maintain.

Part of this requirement to keep on top is through initiatives like their Innovation Lab that has now started to spawn product as a result. Their first, Hyphen, helps legacy commerce systems move into mobile payments with little discomfort. Sep Seyedi, co-founder and CEO, and Jason Hyde, VP Creative, help explain where the company is going and why these products - and the Lab - are important to their future.

Full show notes can be found here.

The top 5 SMS platforms for agencies

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 11:26:04 +0000

Greg has been on a mission to teach effective SMS marketing to, well, the world. Here he details the top 5 SMS platforms for agencies looking to sink their teeth into SMS marketing properly. Greg also dives into his top choice and why he made that choice as well as the success metrics he expected to see as a result of using SMS to connect with customers while he was at Cabela's.

Use the power of 3's to give your app a fighting chance

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 13:06:09 +0000

Have you ever considered hiring an agency to help with your mobile app marketing? Sometimes it is much more effective and less costly to do so for many reasons (of which we explore in this episode). Should you go down this road there are still responsibilities that fall on you, the developer, to ensure your app succeeds. Don't just hand it off and hope - that is NOT a strategy. Peggy highlights some great work from Mick Rigby, founder of Yodel Mobile, on his power of 3's when it comes to ensuring long-term success for your mobile app. All we are saying is give your app a chance...

Getting beaconed at the Marriott in San Diego

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 15:07:43 +0000

As Chuck travels around the world he seeks out the places that have started implementing the technology we talk about here on the show. This time Chuck was in San Diego and swung by the Marriott - one of 3 across the United States that have implemented beacons throughout the property. Here is Chuck's experience as he wandered around, getting beaconed and blown away.

Predicting predictions arrival

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 12:23:50 +0000

Welcome to episode #203. On the show: Apple's location warnings; Places from Moment.me; Towstop sends a towing lifeline; GPS signal as art; Square's arrival prediction bet; In-mall WiFi advertising from Steps Away; Locqus Uberizing the service industry; Snapping screens from Google; Facebook's local location ads; Augmented reality covers real ads. Our special guests are Wibe Wagemans and Roman Kikta of Indoor Atlas.

Full show notes can be found here.

Blackberry not so cool, app dev companies are a money pit and Bitcoin ATM's are for drug dealers - with Kyle McInnes of Maker Space North

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 13:06:30 +0000

Here's a breath of fresh air - a little truth in a world out of control with spin. I'm talking about Kyle McInnes. If you don't know Kyle he has had many a career in mobile - starting way back in the day as the Editor-in-Chief of BlackBerryCool.com (the first blog focused on BlackBerry). He is now the co-founder of Smokelabs - a mobile app development company, helps run the Ottawa International Gaming Conference and is a director for the soon-to-be-launched Maker Space North.

I caught up with Kyle after he had loaded up a bunch of Bitcoin ATMs into a moving truck to install them at different locations across Toronto. We talk about that, the pain of running a mobile app development company and the state of BlackBerry today.

You'll love his honesty.

Full show notes can be found here.

8 mobile analytics tools to convert browsers to buyers

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 16:34:09 +0000

Greg brings a great overview of the tools he used at Cabela's in order to understand their customer flow - from interest to purchase - and what influenced their buy decisions. Knowing how far people travel to get to a store or the influence of discounts on certain products or having the right offer that brings them from the food court to your store are essential today. The tools and tactics we talk about in this episode helps to demystify this process.

It isn't rocket science but it may feel like it sometimes. Our goal is to set you on a path that will help you more effectively convert the customers and potential customers you are already paying to reach. Close the loop with some of these suggestions.

How to use app store analytics to build the right mobile app

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 18:45:45 +0000

How do you know where to go unless you have the right data? That's what this episode seeks to answer. Having access to app store analytics gives developers incredible insight into the emerging trends but, more importantly, gives insight into the expected growth of an app. Using the service we highlight in this episode, developers will be able to see what categories and types of apps are ripe with opportunity while avoiding those that aren't.

The power of 1...beacon notification

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 11:52:13 +0000

Grabbing the attention of a consumer is THE challenge for marketers using mobile these days and beacons are in the middle of this notification revolution. They seem to be the answer to all marketing prayers and, according to a recent inMarket study, they work VERY well. Chuck summarizes the results in this episode but beware, there is a dark side to this bright light that could bring an end to your beacon initiative - and customer loyalty - if it is abused.

Beacons, beacons, beacons and a wearable drone + SchneiderMike from Skyhook Wireless

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 13:41:57 +0000

Welcome to episode #202. On the show: Urban Airship and Gimbal cozy up around beacons; Is that a drone on your wrist?; Dancing traffic lights; MoPub and Juice Mobile team up; Estimote maps the indoors; AirPatrol secures 2 patents; Path's best effort is...PathTalk?; xAd teams with Captivate Networks; Shazam is absorbed by Siri; Honeywell brings Google Glass to the air. Our special guest is SchneiderMike, VP of Marketing for Skyhook Wireless. Our resource of the week is Commute by MapQuest.

Full show notes can be found here.

How Twilio helps grow an ecosystem of billion dollar companies - with CMO Lynda Smith

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 18:57:47 +0000

We are entering the world of notifications. In fact, we should start considering notifications as an independent operating system that is layered on top of all other operating systems, right underneath the connectivity layer of what makes up the Internet itself. At the core of this No/s is communications - something that is an essential part of an effective mobile strategy as well - and right there in the middle of this communications revolution is a familiar infrastructure as a service company called Twilio.

Lynda Smith, Chief Marketing Officer at Twilio, joins us to talk about what makes this company an important piece of the mobile service puzzle. It is a timely episode as SmartThings - a company that leverages Twilio's services was just acquired for $200 million by Samsung.

Full show notes can be found here.

How to use mobile coupons if you are not a discounter

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 11:04:00 +0000

There is a terrible stigma to the mobile coupon. As Greg details in this episode, coupons have a bad rap because businesses almost always think of dollar off or discounts - but that need not be the case. The challenge is to be creative with the use of mobile coupons and start thinking of things away from the clip and save models that are dominating the mobile landscape. That said, if you are going to jump into the mobile coupon fray, build your strategy, know your outcomes and plan accordingly. The wayward coupon is a terrible thing.

As an added bonus, Greg reveals the single greatest coupon strategy on the planet. Seriously.

5 tips to ensure your company is COPPA-compliant - with Roy Smith of AgeCheq

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 18:33:38 +0000

Late in 2013 Roy Smith, founder of AgeCheq, helped us understand the implications that COPPA is going to have on the mobile app industry. COPPA is the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and we've all been waiting for something to happen - for the FTC to find and fine the first infractor. Roy promised to come back and explain the findings when this actually happened and, just this past month, the FTC levied fines on two companies - Yelp and TinyCo - for COPPA-related violations.

Roy held up his end of the bargain and here is that conversation. We talk about the infractions against the two companies, the implications on both Yelp and TinyCo and our industry as well as a list of 5 tips to ensure you are - and remain - COPPA-compliant.

Full show notes can be found here:

Live from New York it's...TWiLBM #201

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 15:13:27 +0000

Welcome to episode #201. On the show: We are LIVE from SM2 in New York City so this is a unique episode for us. We cover the top 2 stories of the week which are Shopkick selling to SK Telecom and PayPal's partnership with Samsung for wearable payments. We also have 4 live guests: Amit Shah of 1-800Flowers, Anthony Toguchi of Nestle, Sean Trepeta of Mobiquity Networks and Vikas Gupta of Factual. Enjoy!

Full show notes can be found here:

How MMS can help app developers deepen user engagement

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 11:39:06 +0000

MMS has been around for quite some time but perhaps it hasn't been appreciated as much as its relatives. Peggy brings us a glimpse into how MMS can help application developers bring users back into their apps and move downloads. She also highlights a new MMS service offering from Twilio and brings us the top 3 uses for MMS for your business.

How mobile is bringing live customer support back into retail

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 11:17:44 +0000

Quick. Your biggest complaint when you walk into a Home Depot is? Retail has given us big box stores, streamlined ecommerce platforms, mass emails, coupons and real-time web customer support but have you ever been so frustrated by the lack of in-store customer support that you've walked out, vowing to never return? Well, mobile may be the answer to this.

Sears and Zappos (independently) are working on making your in-store experience a good one when it comes to getting some real-time help. Chuck explains how mobile is bringing customer service back to the physical store using some connected smarts.

Why the password must die for us to move forward - with SecureKey's Andre Boysen

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 13:23:03 +0000

Privacy. Security. Authentication. Securing and protecting each has become more important as we move our lives from the terrestrial to the digital. The thing is that the infrastructure that was built - the password - is a throwback, a legacy to a time that didn't have supercomputers that could crack them. Even if they did, our banking information and identity was never in jeopardy. Things have changed and so must the way we protect ourselves.

So if passwords don't work and our world is getting more sophisticated to the point that privacy, security and authentication are becoming compromised for millions of people, what do we do?

Andre Boysen, Digital Identity Evangelist for Toronto, Canada based SecureKey, offers his thoughts on what is coming and how we can use existing concepts to bring peace of mind when securing our digital selves. This is a fascinating conversation on a topic that we should all be concerned about as more and more of us hope to leave our wallets at home...

Full show notes can be found here

The 5 reasons you can't ignore SMS marketing

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 13:51:31 +0000

SMS marketing can be misunderstood. It seems complex to get up and running and goes against the traditional view that marketing should reach as many people as possible all at once (which, in hindsight, seems absolutely ridiculous no?). The thing is that when you do SMS marketing properly and in context it is one of the most powerful and cost-effective marketing tools. Period.

The 3 things you should never do when using social media to market your mobile app

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 11:29:05 +0000

Marketing is an art when it comes to getting the word out for your newly-minted mobile application and there has never been a more affordable means to market than social media. The problem is that most app developers either ignore this opportunity to engage with their community or are doing it terribly wrong. That's why we are here. This episode focuses on the reasons social media marketing is so important for your mobile app business and the 3 things you should NEVER (and we mean NEVER as in ever) do.

Macy's goes all in on beacons

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 21:08:33 +0000

In a first of what will likely be many companies diving headfirst into beacons, Macy's has announced a huge rollout of 4000 beacons across their stores in the United States. They are doing it in partnership with Shopkick and Chuck has all the details of this monster initiative here.

Macy's commits to beacons, ex-cons share photos and Verizon's new business + The Location Score Index update

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 12:58:17 +0000

Welcome to episode #200. On the show: Google Outside expands; Geotargeted ads to help The Times Newseum; Weve is dead; Pigeonly's Photopigeon; MoodMedia rolls out presence; Macy's commits to Shopkick and 4000 stores; Futur Heritage pushes Remy Martin; Verizon to enter car sharing; The Drink Up fountain; Urban Airship pushes iOS' interactive push notifications. Special guest is Eli Portnoy of Thinknear on their latest Location Score Index.

Full show notes can be found here

The top 5 iOS 8 features that marketers need to know about

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 10:36:55 +0000

Greg and I jump into the iOS 8 discussion by highlighting the top 5 enhancements that marketers should know about. We talk ApplePay, Spotlight, Widgets, MAC addresses and action notifications (with a few detours around Apple Watch, iBeacons and Twitter?).

The goal here is to demonstrate the possibilities that the new OS brings to the mobile marketing world. Will you use all/any of these? Perhaps not right away but to be aware of them is a requirement and we do our best to bring them to the forefront.

How to accelerate app store payments to fund your business - with Pollen founder Martin MacMillan

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 12:07:38 +0000

Money. There is not a more precious commodity for app developers than the earned dollars staring at them. The problem is that it is often stuck in app store purgatory - earned but not released. You can stare at it, watch it grow, but for a set amount of time, can not touch it, spend it or re-invest it in your business. Basically, it is useless.

Unless...

Martin MacMillan saw this problem first hand and decided to do something about it. His company, Pollen, accelerates earned revenues still sitting in the app store vault so entrepreneurs and businesses can move forward. He calls his company "velocity capital" and he explains why he started it and what the response has been since soft launching this year.

Full show notes can be found here

How to use emotions to make mobile ads more effective

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 17 Sep 2014 12:01:05 +0000

We've all seen an ad on television that has had an impact on us - made us laugh or cry or think or donate or buy or repulse. Mobile ads should be no different. The key is to understand when to display the appropriate ad with the appropriate message and being of the appropriate length.

This is what InMobi calls "Emotional Monetization" and Peggy walks us through an incredibly simple process to understand when to use what type of ad for maximum revenue generation. I.E. When to place the right ads that will make you, the developer, more money.

This is part content strategy and psychology lesson but mostly common sense that, if applied, will net you more earnings making everyone happy in the end.

X is getting closer to the spot - with Thinknear's Eli Portnoy

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 18:29:21 +0000

Praise the beacon, mobile marketing has its muse

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 11:00:26 +0000

Hallelujah the beacons are coming! A huge study by Adobe shows us what mobile marketers think of beacons and it is (mostly) good. There is tremendous interest in using beacons these days and this study encapsulates the state of acceptance as a marketing tool. Chuck summarizes for us here.

Apple Pay, Jafflechutes and the digital drum beats for Uganda

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 15 Sep 2014 14:17:46 +0000

Welcome to episode #199. On the show: Apple's big event; Into the Storm's augmented reality street sign; Unicef's Digital Drum Project; Budweiser brings beer to your Facebook friends; TalkLocal raises and rebrands; WhatsApp and Skype add location sharing; Twitter brings buying to your stream; Jafflechutes drops grilled cheese sandwiches; iScent thinks we want to smell our emails; T-Mobile becomes the UnCarrier. Our resource of the week is a map of all the connected devices in the world.

Full show notes can be found here

Ask a VC with Moe Kermani of Vanedge Capital

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 14:38:11 +0000

In this installment of our "Ask A VC" segment, we sit with Moe Kermani of Vanedge Capital from Vancouver, Canada. Moe has roots as an entrepreneur having co-founded a company that he ran for 11 years before selling and moving into the venture capital world. Moe's advice is balanced, succinct and very valuable to any entrepreneur on the hunt for investment today.

Some of the key takeaways echo previous guests - especially the "no asshole" rule - but much of what Moe says is incredible insight into making your time in front of a potential investor valuable for both sides.

Full show notes can be found here

The marketer's guide to the mobile web vs mobile app debate

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 12:52:35 +0000

This debate has raged on endlessly: Mobile app versus mobile web site. Finally, some straight answers for marketers on how they should approach each and why. From the "one web" concept to the difference between a mobile web customer and a mobile app customer, Greg highlights some key strategies and questions that good marketers are asking and implementing. You probably should watch this...

Why the enterprise is ripe for mobile disruption

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 15:55:53 +0000

Are you a developer for hire or a company involved in mobile development? Have you looked at the enterprise as an opportunity to build a business or your portfolio? You see, larger companies are struggling both internally and externally which makes the opportunity incredibly large. They need to satisfy their own internal requirements for CRM and employee optimization while at the same time satisfy their customers that fuel the business.

Good thing for you that Peggy lays out the opportunity right here in under 10 minutes - thanks to a great infographic from Mubaloo. If you haven't considered the enterprise market you may be kicking yourself after watching this episode.

Is today the day mobile payments gets respect thanks to Apple?

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 12:45:16 +0000

There is so much speculation around Apple's event today but there are a few things we are sure of and I'm not talking about the new phones. Mobile payments are coming to - and through - Apple's ecosystem with huge partners and even greater clout. Chuck explores the impact that a mobile payments-enabled Apple means to the industry.

The misguided agency, tweet to eat and Lynda Smith of Twilio

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 13:08:54 +0000

Welcome to episode #198. On the show: Heineken's location-based loyalty rewards for small bars; AVG acquires LocationLabs; xAd and IndoorAtlas raise rounds; Walkers chips tweet to eat; Nordstrom & Target powered by Curalate; InMobi partners with Factual on mobile ads; McDonalds trades cans for food in Sweden; Magnum and NewAer partner on beacon engagement; Marriott teams with MIT to create matchmaking table through LinkedIn data; FUZ design brings us the bluetooth-enabled Noke padlock; MCX to launch the CurrentC wallet and Isis rebrands. Our resource of the week looks at the if consumers are willing to share wearable data. Our guest is Lynda Smith Chief Marketing Officer of Twilio.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/misguided-agency-tweet-eat-lynda-smith-twilio/

How this mobile dead-man switch has saved 4 lives - with LifeLine Response founder Peter Cahill

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 05 Sep 2014 11:04:38 +0000

Most entrepreneurs are driven individuals. Sometimes they are driven by divine inspiration, other times it is as a result of personal experience. Some entrepreneurs are focused on changing the numbers in their bank accounts while others are set on making a long-lasting contribution to humanity. For Peter Cahill, founder of LifeLine Response, he can check them all off and his company is just at the start of its run.

LifeLine Response is a personal safety service that has already saved 4 lives. Let me say that again: 4 human beings are still alive as a result of using Peter's product. If that doesn't grab your attention I'm not sure what else will. The company is a Techstars graduate, earning revenue and poised to release some breakout technology in the coming days and months. This episode looks at the background of the company, the services they provide, the reasons behind the business, the results to date and the impact it has had on his life as well as those that use the products he provides.

Here's a guy that abandoned a well-paying, cushy job to dip below the poverty line to become an entrepreneur inspired, in part, by the mobile revolution. Who says it's too late to chase a passion? Not Peter.

See the full show notes here:

Our favourite mobile marketing resources

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 04 Sep 2014 12:30:48 +0000

We both receive a lot of requests about the resources we use to stay on top of the mobile marketing world. Here, in a single episode, are the books, podcasts and websites that Greg and I use to keep up to date.

How to use video to sell your app

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 12:29:28 +0000

Video has always been an important part of the mobile app marketing process and is getting a huge boost on the iPhone platform when Apple introduces the use of short videos in the next version of its App Store. Peggy summarizes some incredible advice from Apptamin co-founder Sylvain Gauchet to make your app video standout amongst the crowd.

If you haven't used video to market your app, we provide a great framework to start with. If you have, here's a refresher on what works and what doesn't.

What the Mobile 500 tells us about global mCommerce habits

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 11:11:30 +0000

There are some stark differences when it comes to mobile commerce adoption around the world and they are detailed in a new report by Internet Retailer called the 2015 Mobile 500. Chuck dives into the key stats from the report. One of the key findings is the difference in revenue growth between retailers that have an app versus those that don't...Not sure you can afford to skip this episode.

Location data as art, marketing nostalgia and Peter Cahill of Life Line Response

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 14:05:29 +0000

Welcome to episode #197. On the show: Sprooki rolls out beacons in Singapore malls; Philipp Schmitt's location based light painting project; Comcast thinks EverBlock and Philadelphia are a good combination; Magpi's cloud-based mobile data collection; Google brings local ads to the desktop; Runkeeper partners with KIIP; PitneyBowes' location start-up incubator in India; 7Eleven rolls out Belly to 2600 stores; QR codes to help Alzheimer sufferers from getting lost; Pumpipumpe goes old-school with sharing through stickers. Our resource of the week is Jawbone's earthquake chart. Our special guest is Peter Cahill, founder of Life Line Response.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/build-cause-wont-come-2/

How a connected light led to an internet of things operating system - with Spark.io CEO Zach Supalla

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 15:04:36 +0000

A stroke of genius. We all want it to happen while we take a shower or run or meditate don't we? But we all know deep down inside that it takes hard work and hustle to be exposed to the opportunity to have a stroke of genius - and for many of us it will never happen or will pass us by unnoticed.

For Zach Supalla, CEO of Spark.io - an open-source, cloud-connected operating system for the Internet of Things - it wasn't a single stroke of genius but many steps towards it as you'll see in this episode. This is a classic story of using technology to solve a specific problem and then iterating and iterating and iterating. Zach has built hardware, done two Kickstarter campaigns, shifted to software, runs an open-source community, targets makers and sells to enterprise - all within the life of this one company.

Yup, hustle.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/connected-light-led-internet-things-operating-system-spark-io-ceo-zach-supalla/

Is Apple’s event about mobile payments? I think so and here’s why.

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 13:24:55 +0000

Just what is Apple up to on Sept 9? Much more than we think.

It is official, Apple’s next big event is – aside from being the worst kept secret – in fact happening on Sept 9 at the Flint Center.

There are so many rumours floating around as to what will be announced and, while technically everyone seems to have agreed on the principle items, I think there could be a much bigger story here than most are speculating about.

From the phones, to the wearable device and a payment system – even why they chose the Flint Center, here are my thoughts. What do you think?

MMM #009: How to decide where to start in the mobile marketing mix

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 12:09:36 +0000

Often the hardest part of achieving success in anything is starting - mobile marketing is no different. This craft can be very daunting because it is so new and there are so many moving parts but it doesn't have to be hard. There is a logical progression that makes it quite simple to get moving and gain momentum. Greg highlights his experience on how he did this while he was with Cabelas. Watch this episode and you'll gain insight into the place you need to start when bringing mobile marketing into your organization.

We also discuss something that many organizations skip while determining their mobile marketing strategy that ultimately sends them in the wrong direction. Watch and learn!

MAM #10: The 10-step checklist to build & launch a mobile app

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 12:30:24 +0000

What are the 10 most foundational steps that every single developer needs to do in order to give their app a fighting chance? That question is answered here by Peggy as she highlights a great resource put together by India-based Dot Com Infoway. This episode focuses on the core requirements to set any app on the right path to success.

MCM #362: The beacon is not the destination

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 13:27:03 +0000

With the conversation in retail shifting to beacons and the act of beaconing, Chuck explores the next phase of this emerging technology by visiting IPG Media Lab in New York City. The next phase? Aren't we just entering the era of the beacon? We are but, once you watch this episode you will understand that the beacon is not the focus, it is the experience that comes as a result that should be.

TWiLBM #196: Build it for a cause or they won't come

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 15:10:49 +0000

Welcome to episode #196. On the show: Discovery navigation for the blind; Earshot and DoubleDutch raise money; Apple patents car locator; Lays partners with Uber for Uber Picnic; Can smartphone screens correct your vision; Lionel Messi returns to Barcelona; Vemory app launches; Stylebored pays cash for referrals; Omote's living makeup; Netflix changes room colour based on the movie. Our deep dive stories are why you should build for a cause; Why cash is king and Digital hacking the real life.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/build-cause-wont-come/

Ask a VC with Vegas Tech Fund partner Will Young

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 13:23:44 +0000

Here is another installment of our "Ask a VC" feature. This time we sit with Vegas Tech Fund partner Will Young. The Vegas Tech Fund is part of the many initiatives put together by Zappos founder Tony Hsieh with a mandate to revitalize the Vegas tech scene. When you watch this episode you will quickly understand that the ethos of Zappos and Hsieh himself are a fundamental ingredient in their investment philosophy.

After watching Will in this episode you will want to come up with an idea just to simply work with him.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ask-vc-vegas-tech-fund-partner-will-young/

MMM #008: How social media is different on mobile

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 12:48:56 +0000

The majority of your customers access their social media accounts from their mobile devices. The majority of marketers aren't using this to their advantage. The minority of marketers that do are thriving - and probably stealing business from those that don't. The difference between social media on a big screen and it's counterpart on a portable screen is as different as driving a car versus piloting a plane. On the surface they have similarities: They both take you from point A to point B, they both turn right and left - but planes go up and down, pitch and roll and get you there faster. Social on mobile has the power of the plane which makes both Greg and I wonder why most marketers choose to take public transportation.

Start marketing with social properly through mobile and STOP BEING SO LAZY.

MAM #009: How to give your app a voice with SMS

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 14:34:47 +0000

An arsenal of tools. To win in marketing your app you need to use an arsenal of tools. The more you use, the more likely you are to succeed and one of the important pieces in your app marketing strategy needs to be SMS. There are tremendous benefits and Peggy outlines them in this episode.

If you've ever wondered how to give your app a voice, to bring users back that have forgotten about your app or even to deepen the relationship you have with existing users, sit back and watch this episode. Of course, if you don't care about any of these things you may simply just carry on about your day...

MCM #357: Who's doing what with Beacons

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 10:43:15 +0000

The word of the fall in retail is going to be beacons with good reason. There are a number of innovative companies that have been experimenting with their use and this fall will see them commit fully to them. Chuck gives us a run down of the companies that are in this category - the ones that aren't sitting back and waiting for the end of retail. What will retail look like in the fall? Here's a glimpse.

TWiLBM #195: Does anyone have a spare triangle?

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 15:48:50 +0000

Welcome to episode #195. On the show: Verve Mobile's programmatic direct platform; JCDecaux's CitiScape; Denver Beer Company's Explorer Challenge; VMBeacon brings mannequins to life; Amazon's Local Register; TD thanks a select few...very well; Cucalu confounds; Yahoo buys it's 31st mobile company Zofari; Glympse works on your wrist; Gilbarco-Vedder Root teams with Verifone at the gas pump. Our special guest is Debbie Landa, CEO and founder Dealmaker Media.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/twilbm-195-anyone-spare-triangle/

EP #526: Why you should fear the ultimate centroid - with Arrivalist founder Cree Lawson

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 10:27:19 +0000

Location.

The core to much of the emerging mobile advertising fortunes, location is not as easy as it seems. There are so many factors that effect the "place" in location and it gets more complicated as we unearth its potential and start using it for business.

As we've tried to capture in other episodes, getting location right is of paramount importance and one of the most difficult and rewarding things for the craft of marketing since marketing was invented. There are different pieces to location marketing and we take a look at a few in this episode.

Cree Lawson is back for an update about his company Arrivalist. This time he is here to talk about the emergence of this industry, the single biggest challenge his company has identified and overcome (the ultimate centroid), the customer results and how Forbes gave him the credibility he needed to close his second (and third, and fourth and...) client.

Always informative and focused on takeaways, Cree brings an incredible knowledge about the most important axis of marketing today.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-526-fear-ultimate-centroid-arrivalist-founder-cree-lawson/

MMM #007: How and when to use mobile advertising to grow your business

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 14 Aug 2014 11:03:24 +0000

Mobile advertising is big business. Companies like Google and Facebook are betting their immediate future on the revenue they receive from mobile advertisers. Why? Well, they are more "effective" and can certainly be more targeted than web advertising for one. While the majority of spend today is on banner ads - which are unfortunately not the right medium for mobile - there are other options and certainly more strategic ways of using mobile to get your message out.

In this episode Greg highlights key tactics when trying to use mobile advertising to grow your business as well as a caveat about the sequence in which you should do it. Remember, get your fundamentals down first before attempting to use this tool or even heeding the advice in this episode will be a waste of money.

MAM #008: Here's where all the revenue is in mobile apps...

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 12:48:44 +0000

Making an app is a complex undertaking. Making your app business successful is also hard work. As we will show you in this series, the decisions you make will largely depend on your category of app, target audience and monetization model. But you shouldn’t just rely on your judgment. Knowing what other app developers think, do and recommend can also help you avoid pitfalls along the way.

Peggy highlights some key information from a new report by Vision Mobile - the good and the frightening - and offers ideas on where the opportunities are to build a mobile app business.

MCM #355: Why the shopping cart is the key to mobile commerce

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 10:21:48 +0000

People don't want to buy from a smartphone. This according to a huge study by GroupM. They do want to shop from them but most companies don't factor that into their research - they simply look at the transactions. Could the most important thing to measure become the wish list or what goes into the shopping cart? Many retailers at the forefront of mobile commerce are focusing there and this strategy will make a ton of sense once you watch this episode.

TWiLBM #194: Live from the gentle island

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 11:09:04 +0000

Welcome to episode #194. On the show: A compressed, no-frills version of the show today as Rob is remote on Prince Edward Island. Stories about Tinder match-making for dogs; Simon Malls & Mobiquity team up for “smart” malls; The Traces app launch; Shazam releases their Resonate platform; The Ninja Sphere for your connected home; Westpac adds augmented reality to banking; Track Toronto tracks the lyrics of the city; Drop closes a small round; Bing catches gets smarter mobile ad targeting; Timex has a new non-smartphone connected watch.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/twilbm-194-live-gentle-island/

EP #525: The locus of the location based advertising industry with Thinknear founder Eli Portnoy

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 15:18:00 +0000

Can you imagine paying for a billboard, television or newspaper ad to target an audience in Los Angeles only to have it run exclusively in New York? How about wanting to target an audience sitting in a stadium in Toronto only to actually have your message seen in Kansas City? Welcome to the tumultuous and challenging world of location based marketing.

This challenge - the accuracy of location data - effects every single advertiser trying to grow their business via mobile. This challenge is also one that Eli Portnoy and his team at Thinknear have been trying to solve since their inception.

Since the launch of the Location Score Index, Eli has made it his mission to create complete transparency in the location-based advertising world. Doing this requires asking hard questions of our established norms and sometimes these questions make us a little bit uncomfortable but they are necessary - as is the service the Thinknear team is providing.

If you rely on mobile ads to help your business, this is required viewing...unless your goal is to fritter your cash away in New York as your company goes bankrupt in LA.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-525/

MMM #006: How to use mobile search to grow your business

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 11:09:10 +0000

Mobile search is SO different than the search we've come to know on our desktops for two reasons: The first is that your customer is closer to intent (by that I mean they have money in hand and are looking to spend it). The second is they arrive on your site via their mobile and give you valuable notice as to what they are interested in.

Greg gives tactics on how to begin using the power of mobile search to achieve great results with a little bit of effort. Oh, and if you are thinking about skipping this "whole mobile thing" or think "pinch and zoom" is a strategy, the last 2 minutes are for you.

MAM #007: How to bridge the app store payment gap

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 10:30:25 +0000

It is hard enough to come up with a great idea for a mobile business, design it, build it, market it and convince a bunch of people to download it and use it more than once. When, miracles of miracles, you've done all that and your customers finally start paying for it. you end up having to wait for up to 60 days to get paid from the various app stores. Life is hard as a mobile development company trying to survive on selling through apps.

So what do you do? Well Peggy has an answer for you on today's show that you may want to pay attention to.

MCM #354: The state of the beacon according to BI Intelligence

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 11:15:55 +0000

Retail is the first industry to grasp the importance of beacons as a hardware platform but beacons require much more effort than affix and spam. According to new research from BI Intelligence, there are going to be thousands of these things in circulation by the end of the year - mostly in retail - which can be good, only if retailers (and all businesses for that matter) heed Chucks words in this episode.

TWiLBM #193: You say you want a (beacon) revolution

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 10:36:52 +0000

Welcome to episode #193. On the show: HBC and Lord & Taylor commit to beacons; Instagram launches their Snapchat competitor Bolt; Medialets helps with attribution; Tipbombing your favourite street artist; Verizon kicks off their smart rewards program; Glympse embeds itself within Kik messenger; Nike gives away merchandise with FuelBox; Andrew Mason emerges with Detour; NextNav raises $70M. Our special guest is Debbie Kiederer of LiveLux and our resource of the week examines the differences between NFC and BLE.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/twilbm-193-say-want-beacon-revolution/

EP #524: How beacons ended up on Regent Street - with Autograph founder Henry Lawson

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 13:42:59 +0000

Henry Lawson's company rolled out 170 beacons across 130 retailers in the oldest and most known shopping street on earth - Regent Street in London. Not only did they manage to convince the Queen that this was a good idea (well, her company The Crown Estate), they also had to manage the largest and most prestigious retailers on the planet as well.

This is that story.

How did Autograph land the Queen of England as a client? What were some of the challenges? How did they find their first client? How can they ask 40 questions and know so much about us? Where do beacons fit in our retail future? So much to talk about and we do in this episode.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-524-beacons-ended-regent-street-autograph-founder-henry-lawson/

MMM #005: How to bring email into your mobile marketing strategy...properly

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 12:57:15 +0000

When you think of mobile, email doesn't really jump out as part of a grand strategy. The thing is that for most of us - close to 60% in fact - email is consumed primarily on our mobile devices. This makes email part of your mobile strategy and it is not business as usual. There are things that email should and shouldn't do in the mobile environment and Greg brings some important suggestions that you can get up and running right away.

Mobile isn't just about apps or mobile web or shopping or games. As you'll see in this short episode it alters every aspect of your business - including the simple email message.

MAM #006: How to use testing to make your app better

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 14:04:32 +0000

Want to know the secret to a successful app? Well, listen up, here it is. Testing, iteration, interaction and testing again. In short, the secret to a successful app is hard work. There are no shortcuts in the app world any more.

A huge part of the success of your app depends on a very important cycle with your customers - one that if done right will bring you closer to your customer (and satisfying their requirements of you) than ever before. That cycle is testing. If everything is in place and you are constantly testing and asking, every release that lands on your users screen should be closer and closer to what they want because they've told you so.

How do you do it? Have no fear, Peggy outlines her A/B testing primer in this episode - things you can do and use right away to start bringing you closer to your user.

MCM #350: Hudson's Bay Company dives head first into beacons

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 12:24:29 +0000

The Hudson's Bay Company - the oldest retailer in North America - is showing everyone how to bring beacons into retail by rolling them out in 130 stores across North America. HBC partnered with Swirl, the iBeacon marketing platform company based in Boston, to implement this feat. Chuck dove head-long into this story by visiting the Boston Lord & Taylor and by interviewing Swirl CEO Hilmi Ozguc to get the amazing details on this massive roll out.

TWiLBM #192: Jesus Jones had it right

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 12:57:07 +0000

Welcome to episode #192. On the show: Factual's Trusted Data Contributor program; Target gets in the image recognition game; Applebee's hands over the keys to their Instagram account; Hillshire Brands bumps sausage revenue by 20% with beacons; Vibes gets personal with messaging; Marketron brings location-based services to broadcasters; DELI Amsterdam offers personality-based travel recommendations; First Data's new Perka loyalty program; PopJam's Instagram for kids; Guardians of the Galaxy VR premier. Our guest is Eli Portnoy of Thinknear talking about their new Location Score Tags.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/twilbm-192/

EP #523: How an open mind and a chance encounter changed this business forever with Mahana co-founders Bryan Menell and Richard Bagdonas

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 20:33:27 +0000

Just 13 weeks ago I featured this very same duo about their company, Mahana, and their focus on bringing beacons (and their benefits) into the restaurant industry. As a sign of how quickly things - and business focus - change (and need to change), they are back on to talk about the shift in their business and why.

If there is one thing that the mobile world has taught all of us it is that it is very hard to fall in love with a business idea. I've seen many do this and not see the industry change right in front of them until it is too late. Bryan Menell and Richard Bagdonas aren't like that and this is the story of how they moved from their original focus to the much more niched hotel and casino industries.

This is the episode for startups who are in flux or aren't gaining the traction that is necessary to make an impact in their industry. This is for the hotel and casino industry to cast an amazing light on how technology - in particularly beacons - can help deepen customer relationships and thus loyalty. This is for the leader that is facing down the impossible task of change in an industry where change is the constant. This is for everyone who thinks you can't amend your thinking or change your focus because of where you started.

Listen to Bryan and Richard's story and then be open to listening to what your customers, your advisors and your gut is telling you. Who knows if they will be right or wrong or keep amending their model but the thing that they did - and continue to do - is QUESTION where they are and if it still makes sense. They did. You should.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-523-how-an-open-mind-and-a-chance-encounter-changed-this-business-forever-with-mahana-co-founders-bryan-menell-and-richard-bagdonas/

MMM #004: How to sell mobile into your organization...the right way

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 12:12:26 +0000

Being "the mobile gal/guy" is sometimes lonely. There are few that really grasp the reach and impact mobile is having on every single business. If they did understand, you - the mobile soothsayer - would actually run the company. That's how important it is from this point and going forward. Am I right?

Marketing mobile INSIDE the organization is as important - if not more - in the early stages of a mobile marketing strategy.

The problem is that there is a gap between identifying a need for mobile and being able to convince others in your organization of its importance. Have no fear, you aren't alone and this episode helps identify the key things that must be done internally to bring mobile into a business properly.

MAM #005: The 3 types of app messaging and how to use them to build deeper customer relationships

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 12:50:24 +0000

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

If there is one thing that mobile has done for communications it has made it easier to send more people more messages more easily. It has also empowered the receiver to turn it off, tune it out and forget just as easily. This is the challenge for all marketers and brand-builders looking to use mobile messaging to grow their empire. The balance must be perfect: Too many messages and in the wrong context and the battle is lost. Too few messages or messages being sent too soon or too late and the battle is also lost.

So what to do?

In this episode, Peggy lays the foundation for your mobile messaging strategy by focusing on the reasons why it is important, what are the 3 most used types of mobile messaging in use today and some implementation tips to get you going in the right direction.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/mam-005-the-3-types-of-app-messaging-and-how-to-use-them-to-build-deeper-customer-relationships/

MCM #346: Is inventory the new location for retailers?

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 13:27:48 +0000

One of the allures of online and mobile shopping is that there is almost always a sure guarantee the product will be in inventory. You may have to wait a day or two for it to get to your doorstep but odds are the thing you order will be delivered. Not so for traditional retail stores. There is nothing more frustrating than finding the product you want, making your way to the store only to find it isn't available at that location. Inventory is becoming an important lever in retail behind experience and price and one company, Retailigence, is making sure you get the product you want when you want it.

TWiLBM #191: The in-experience store episode

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 13:42:47 +0000

Welcome to episode #191. On the show: Bonnaroo's beacon results; Heineken's @wherenext twitter service; Clear Channel launches their "Connect" platform; Petpace tracks the health of your pet; AdNear teams up with Mindshare for location targeting in Asia; Samsung launches "CentreStage" in BestBuy; Marriott launches LocalPerks; Birchbox opens up a real-life store in SoHo; Hermes' Fox Den window display; The Sensing Umbrella. Special guest is Henry Lawson of Autograph (the company that installed beacons in every store on Regent St).

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/twilbm-191-the-in-experience-store-episode/

EP #522: What it takes to get funding today - with Foundation Capital partner Anamitra Banerji

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 13:50:28 +0000

One of the challenges of being an entrepreneur and founder is finding the capital to spark growth. There are obviously many ways to do it - from bootstrapping to taking on debt to finding an equity investor - but for most of us with big ideas it is the equity investment we tend to gravitate towards. Growth happens for a reason but to achieve the kind of growth we all want venture capitalists are often-times essential fuel. It is no different for those of you out there building mobile services and applications.

That is why this episode (and more to come) is about the venture industry - more specifically on what it takes to get the attention of top VCs with your business. Our guest is Anamitra Banerji of Foundation Capital and the goal is to understand what he invests in and why. Anamitra has been on both sides of the fence. He is a founder and has worked for household name companies like Yahoo! and Twitter - putting product out the door that reach hundreds of millions of people.

He shares his criteria for investment and what industries are emerging that he is keeping his eye on.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-522-what-it-takes-to-get-funding-today-with-foundation-capital-partner-anamitra-banerji/

MMM #003: The four pillars of your mobile marketing strategy

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 14:39:22 +0000

Where do you begin? That is the hardest question to answer when you are facing an obstacle like mobile marketing. Where do you begin marketing your business through mobile. What are the first things you should be working on when there are infinite ways and places to start? You must start with intention and from a place of strength as mobile can overwhelm its victims very quickly - so start well, start focused but please please please start quickly.

If you are lost, confused or knee deep and sinking, here, in a short video, are the "first 4" pieces to setting things right between your company and mobile marketing.

MAM #004: Why you should start using push notifications in your app

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 13:31:16 +0000

The long and sometimes expensive process of building an app, marketing an app and having someone download an app is challenging enough. The problem is that what happens next is even more of a hurdle: Getting the users to engage or re-engage with the app. Most app studies show us that we, the app consumers on the planet, rarely open a downloaded app a second or third time. So, after all that effort to build, market and deploy your apps, how do you get a second or third open? How does your app become a habit with your users? One of the most important emerging pieces is push.

This episode is the first of many on this subject and acts as a primer for the benefits of bringing push into your app. This isn't easy. It isn't simple. In fact, it is the most precarious piece of an app's lifeline. Do it right (add value) and it has a chance. Do it wrong and there is no second launch - or chance.

MCM #342: And the top mobile shopper is...

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 13:20:10 +0000

The latest research points to the increased comfort consumers are feeling towards using mobile payments for anything from toys to furniture to pet supplies. So who is the ideal customer? What is the ideal platform for mobile commerce? What is everyone spending their mobile dollars on? Shopgate's latest research shows us in detail and Chuck paints that picture for you in 2 minutes here.

MCM #341: The perfect coupon is... the one you don't see

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:57 +0000

There have been many companies that have attempted to perfect the coupon redemption process to varying degrees of success. Most of that success has come in the form of company exits for the founders, not so much when it comes to satisfied customers but a Canadian company may be hitting the sweet spot for that. The company is called Checkout 51 and Chuck offers his thoughts on the service here. #GoCanada

TWiLBM #190: Free our reservations!

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:55 +0000

Welcome to episode #190. On the show: Google's Chromecast gets Ultrasonic; Chicago's Array of Things makes the city smarter and creepier; Telefonica deploys Brainstorm's platform to all markets; ReservationHop takes reservations hostages; Amscreen and Garmin partner at the Tour de France; Muuzii taps SMS for real-time translations; Nescafe's PopUp Cafe puts real coffee in the newspaper - including the cup; RetailNext and iZettle close financing rounds; Ubisoft shows us the map of the future; TAB unveils spot ratings for billboards thanks to Inrix. Our special guest is Gilad Amitai of Ubimo from Israel.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/twilbm-190-free-our-reservations/

EP #521: Wearables and the evolution of the pro athlete - with GestureLogic CEO Len MacEachern

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:52 +0000

We are running out of wearable real-estate. Wrists, ankles, nose, eyes, head. Most of us will probably wear something - one thing - not a lot of things at the same time. Unless you are an experiment, you will more than likely find a wearable that measures what you are interested in and wear that one. These wearables may be about behaviour change or health measurement or, in the case of this episode, athletic improvement.

Most athletes are in the business of improvement. They've invented technologies that make their equipment as light as air, they've crammed their frames into slick suits that reduce friction and drag, they've invented diets that optimize energy exertion for race days, they've streamlined much of the bulk and are now leaning to wearables to help with technique.

Len MacEachern is building just such a thing - called Leo. The device follows another emerging trend around wearables - that is the "not-always-on" type (that's a technical term I invented btw). Leo is meant as a training aid for learning the optimum use of your muscle to make sure you avoid injury. It is worn around your leg and the amount of data it spews out is incredible and incredibly valuable.

This is the story of Leo, Ottawa-based parent company GestureLogic, and the huge (HUGE) opportunity in targeted, temporary wearable tech. Eyes open folks, this stuff just keeps getting cooler.

Full show notes can be found here:

MMM #002: Mobile marketing 101...you have to start somewhere

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:47 +0000

Mobile marketing used to be much simpler if you can believe it - back when the only thing marketers had to worry about was the phone. Now, because of the phone, the way we define mobile marketing has changed (and continues to change) drastically. In episode #2 of the Mobile Marketing Minute, we discuss the pieces that fall under mobile marketing and the concept that the message needs to change depending on the screen your customer is looking at.

MAM #003: How to make a mark with your mobile app in South Korea

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:43 +0000

Continuing on our look at mobile dominant economies we turn our attention to South Korea in this episode. With 28 million iOS and Android devices and mobile consumer base addicted to apps, South Korea is a nation that cannot be ignored by mobile app developers seeking to expand their reach. Peggy highlights the most important tactics to entering the market and some of the pitfalls you should avoid entering the market as well as in your app.

MCM #339: Don't worry, we are all still anonymous shoppers

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:40 +0000

We all know that retail has taken a licking as a result of the mobile revolution. It has been the punching bag for upstarts and analysts, it has been chided in all media, it has become subservient to the almighty consumer, it has quite simply lost its mojo. For every glimmer of hope that the retail industry has caught on, has embraced its new lord, has turned a corner, reality hits home time and again. A new study by Boston Retail Partners reiterates this cycle and shows retailers are still in a state of denial. Chuck summarizes here but to give you a quick snapshot, of the retailers surveyed, only 3% can identify the mobile shopper when they walk in their store...we are all still anonymous - not by accident but by negligence.

EP #520: How to capitalize on the practical versus the possible of the Internet of Things - with Infobright CEO Don DeLoach

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:37 +0000

The Internet of Things is a grand plan - nodes and sensors everywhere, data being collected and processed and displayed at the right time to the right person for the right reason. The concepts around predictive data modelling and full-on artificial intelligence are, for the most part, predictive in themselves. These visions are how we think of it looking forward from it today but, as we've seen over the last 7 years, the world today hardly resembles the world in which we predicted before mobile swept to power.

So where should we focus? According to Infobright CEO Don DeLoach, we should be finding that spot where possible meets practical and start there. With so much being written about the Internet of Things and the impact it will have on most of our lives, we step back in this episode and focus on the things that IoT will have an immediate impact on. Things like data collection and display, privacy, business models and ownership. These are challenges that will need to be overcome first in order to move into the true realm of the Internet of Things.

The episode dives into big data and the changing language of the query, the impact of data collection and display on our privacy and who owns that data, the 4 stages of data collection and intelligence and a good glimpse into the near future of the impact of IoT on how we live, play and do business.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-520-how-to-capitalize-on-the-practical-versus-the-possible-of-the-internet-of-things-with-infobright-ceo-don-deloach/

MMM #001: Why do YOU need mobile marketing?

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:34 +0000

Welcome to the inaugural episode of the Mobile Marketing Minute - a weekly look at the strategy required to make mobile an essential part of your marketing mix. During these episodes you will learn how to augment your current marketing efforts with mobile to help reach your target customer, increase your reach and visibility and drive more quality leads and revenue all because of concepts we will share.

This first episode, my co-host and mobile marketing force Greg Hickman (of the Mobile Mixed podcast) answers the question of why: Why should every single one of you be thinking about mobile in every single one of your marketing efforts, now and in the future.

To ask a question, visit:

MCM #337: Mobile ushers in the dark retail experience

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:31 +0000

Two incredible studies (one by Euclid, the other by BrandingBrand) focus on the influence mobile is having on the shopping experience. They also shine a light on possibly the biggest challenge for retailers: "Dark retail." Similar to the "dark web" - the private sharing and linking of websites and data that can't be measured by traditional analytics, Dark Retail encompasses the influences that affect the consumer's path to purchase that cannot be measured. The path to purchase has never been a straight line but smartphones and other connected devices have really increased the complexity for retailers. At the same time, they have given consumers full control on where, when and with whom they do business with.

EP #519: What happens when you can talk back to the radio - with XAPPmedia founder Pat Higbie

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:28 +0000

Radio has always been one of the things that has been consistently ripe for mobile disruption on two fronts. The first is broadcast which is being handled by the likes of RDIO, Spotify, Pandora, Songza, iTunes Radio and now Amazon among many many others. All-told there are roughly 140 million Internet radio listeners that share their time across the new broadcasters. Not a huge global industry, but enough to warrant a rethink of the business and engagement models - which is the second piece ripe for a rethink.

This is where XAPPmedia comes in. The company focuses on creating action within the ads broadcast over Internet radio. An ad that is enabled by XAPP prompts the listener to engage - by voice - for more information about the product being featured. What's really cool about this is that it can actually bring the listener into a commerce-enabled world over the air.

Pat Higbie is the founder and CEO of the company and joins us to talk about the state of radio and Internet radio today, where the revenue does and will come from going forward, how long the idea of paying for radio will be sustainable and some key things that are needed in order to make this industry thrive. We also discuss the impact of Internet radio and mobile on the way advertising is done and paid for as well as a glimpse into the short future to see what is in store for this industry. Pay particular attention to what Pat has to say about the impact that what this industry will do to traditional search.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-519-what-happens-when-you-can-talk-back-to-the-radio-with-xappmedia-founder-pat-higbie/

EP #518: How to increase store sales by killing the queue - with Digital Retail Apps founder Wendy MacKinnon Keith

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:24 +0000

How does a small payments app company from Toronto make a name for itself? How about driving 8% of in-store sales on day 1 of using the service? Or, how about contributing to an over 20% increase in sales during that day as well? Or even increasing basket size by 17%? Compelling reasons, but those are just the start. In order to succeed here where others have failed sometimes a philosophy adjustment is in order.

For Wendy MacKinnon Keith that philosophy started with understanding the root problem she was going to address with her company Digital Retail Apps. It wasn't about payments, it wasn't about pushy messages inside the store, it wasn't even about helping salespeople sell more. Her focus was squarely on helping customers avoid waiting in long lines to pay for their merchandise. That's it. No. More. Lines.

This simple mantra is a result of focusing on the important aspect of retail - the customer experience. Marry that with the concept that having more people stand in more lines means fewer shopper turns which leads to fewer transactions and, well, fewer dollars in the retailers pocket and you have a problem in need of a quick fix.

How did she do it? What were the early results? What can other retailers learn from her experience? All this and more is jammed into this episode.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-518-how-to-increase-store-sales-by-killing-the-queue-with-digital-retail-apps-founder-wendy-mackinnon-keith/

EP #517: The tale of the tenacious entrepreneur - with Crew co-founder Mikael Cho

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:21 +0000

Mikael Cho is tenacious. Listening to this story it will become very clear that tenacity is the intangible skill in the entrepreneurs arsenal. It isn't given. It isn't learned. You have it or you don't. The thing is, to be an entrepreneur you need it.

This is Mikael's third visit to UNTETHER.tv - the first two were centered around the previous incarnation of his current business called OOOMPH. He is now the CEO of its evolution into Crew, a marketplace for matching highly qualified mobile development skills with projects. I say evolution on purpose because as you consume this episode you will notice a few things of importance: How an idea forms around a team and how the thinking of an entrepreneur evolves into a leader.

This isn't just a story about switching businesses or pivoting, it is about fessing up to the questions all entrepreneurs face at one point in their lives: Is what I'm doing creating value? Tough question to ask but sometimes the answer is even tougher.

This is that story - Mikael's story.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-517-the-tale-of-the-tenacious-entrepreneur-with-crew-co-founder-mikael-cho/

EP #516: How a side project became the company - with Memoir co-founder Lee Hoffman

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:16 +0000

We take a million photos a year. We post frantically on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare. We are digital. We don't hang photos on the wall anymore. We are also human and forget the things that happened at the places they happened with the people it happened with. I know this fits my profile. You?

Since the emergence of digital photography and then social networks, I've looked for a way to capture and surface my digital life in a way that requires the smallest effort on my part. This is the story of that service.

I found Memoir just after my mother passed away last fall and it immediately became a front screen app for me for two reasons: The first was that desire I have to catalog my digital life, the second was that almost immediately after I started using Memoir, it started surfacing great memories of my mother. It was so powerful that I believe it helped with my grief.

Lee Hoffman is one of the co-founders of Memoir and his story is a classic entrepreneurial journey of listening to the voice in your head and following a passion - however long it might take to arrive there. Memoir is not a simple app as you will hear. The sophisticated data crunching and hiding the complexity of the service behind a simple and powerful user experience are at the center of this story. So is the transition from a training company accepted at Techstars, to the way the app is marketed virally, to how they applied lean development in a mobile app world and even how mentors influenced their decisions early on.

A great story with a great founder talking about a great mobile service and application. Sit back and learn.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-516-how-a-side-project-became-the-company-with-memoir-co-founder-lee-hoffman/

EP #515: How to build the perfect mobile email client - with Acompli co-founder Javier Soltero

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:12 +0000

Email. Love it or hate it, there is still nothing that rivals it as a business tool. Everyone has an email address and the adoption and use is not abating despite the other communication channels that have emerged. Email has become synonymous with the smartphones we use - think back to the original flavour of BlackBerry, it was sold as a mobile email tool. Legend has it that when Lazaridis saw people responding to email on their BlackBerry's while sitting in front of their desktops he knew a shift had happened in the industry.

Flash forward to today and, if your inbox is like mine, email has become an albatross - a vacuous place where good deeds and intentions go to die. Mobile email was supposed to help smooth out our day so we don't return to our desks with 100's or 1000's or unread messages but this hasn't happened. Now, as we move more and more to a small screen as our dominant (read: first) screen, our practice of mobile email triage does not suffice.

This is where today's guest, Javier Soltero, and his company, Acompli begin. Javier and his team looked at email as a specific workflow and built an incredibly easy to use mobile app that solves many of our challenges with mobile email. This is the story of why Javier and Acompli are challenging the norm, the installed incumbents and the process of email use in a mobile world.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-515-how-to-build-the-perfect-mobile-email-client-with-acompli-co-founder-javier-soltero/

EP #514: Why we need an Internet of Things operating system - with bitHeads co-founder Rick McMullin

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:09 +0000

Ask 100 people their definition of the Internet of Things and you will probably get 100 answers. Most will focus on the perfect world of seamlessly connected devices that thread our lives from the time we wake to the time we fall asleep. They will include data that follows us, doors that open, music that plays and lights that go on as we enter rooms. It will include payment authentication and ID validation. Cars will start, tires will tell us when they are low and our home will let us know when our kids arrive. IoT utopia.

The thing is that each piece of this puzzle - from the connected bed to the connected fridge - runs independently from the other and, more often than not, can't speak to each other in any meaningful way. This is the gap between the promise of a valued IoT and just a bunch of connected devices spewing data like oil.

Rick McMullin, co-founder of Ottawa, Canada based bitHeads is trying to solve this very problem by building the glue that brings these devices together - to fulfill the promise of the Internet of Things.

This episode covers the reasons why what Rick and his team are building is so important as each generation of device - and human - demands more natural connectivity between things. This isn't just about connecting screens or displaying data, this is about brand new ways of thinking about software, hardware and the entire user experience we've become addicted to.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-514-why-we-need-an-internet-of-things-operating-system-with-bitheads-co-founder-rick-mcmullin/

EP #513: Global Delight's path to 1 million downloads in 40 days with Guru Kamath

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:06 +0000

This is a great story of entrepreneurial persistence and smart focus that has led to over 9 million active users of their flagship mobile app.

The company, located in Udipi India, is Global Delight and the app that Guru Kamath and I spend most of the episode talking about is called CameraPlus.

The conversation is very open and brings out the amazing approach to product development that Guru and his team have gone through to build the company. There are some big lessons for app developers here but none resonated more with me than the approach to finding the right product/market fit. Pay close attention to the way they looked for outside influences to bring into their apps - including sanskrit which led to an algorithm for image optimization.

There is incredible depth to the way the entire company solves problems in the market and they just keep doing it. For example, they focused on unique offerings at the right time like offering a soft flash for iOS when there wasn't one built in or adding video recording when it wasn't available on the device or even offering real-time filter previews on the images as the photos are being taken. Simple but effective innovations that have kept this app at or near the top for 4 years.

Lessons. Lessons. Lessons. Easily one of the most insightful episodes on UNTETHER.tv

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-513-global-delights-path-to-1-million-downloads-in-40-days-with-guru-kamath/

EP #512: How focusing on a niche brought TechCrunch and $630,000 from Indiegogo - with Altas Wearables co-founder Peter Li

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:01 +0000

I'm a meathead. Or a lunkhead. Whatever you want to call it, I am addicted to physical fitness. My philosophy is simple: Go to the gym. Lift the heaviest weights I can for as many times as I can. Stop thinking. Just lift. I also love all things wearable so when I saw Peter Li's company on Indiegogo a while back I knew I had to speak with him because it combined my love of the lunk with my love of the mobile.

Peter's company is Atlas Wearables and are focused exclusively on the fitness vertical with their first product. To say this device is sophisticated would not do it justice. To say that Peter and his team have learned lessons while collecting over $600,000 through their IndieGoGo campaign and trying to decipher the difference between a normal pushup and a triangle pushup in real time would be an understatement (the latter took close to 1 full year to do).

The thing that should resonate with you while you watch this important episode is the opportunities that are out there as a result of mobile. Niche markets, established markets - it doesn't matter any more because when you redesign with mobile in mind, the platform is level, incumbents are at a disadvantage and innovation happens with guys like Peter.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-512-how-focusing-on-a-niche-brought-techcrunch-and-630000-from-indiegogo-with-altas-wearables-co-founder-peter-li/

EP #511: How to build a mobile app business - with Apponomics author Peggy Anne Salz

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:19:58 +0000

What does it take to build a mobile app business? Not just an app but a mobile app business that thrives - and lasts. That's what the focus is for this episode and it features the person best suited to take us down that road.

Peggy Anne Salz, founder of Mobile Groove and author Apponomics, jumps online to offer us a glimpse into what it takes to build a successful business in the app economy. This episode explores the key aspects of Apponomics (which is free and available here) and little-known insights that will help you build your mobile app company.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-511-how-to-build-a-mobile-app-business-with-apponomics-author-peggy-anne-salz/

EP #510: How beacons bring service back in to focus - with Mahana co-founders Bryan Menell and Richard Bagdonas

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:19:55 +0000

Beacons: We've heard about them as big companies like Apple and Major League Baseball and Macy's roll them out across the country but sometimes it's hard to understand what the impact will be on smaller, more local, businesses. There is nothing more local - or competitive - than restaurants and one Austin-based company thinks beacons can help retain customers by enhancing service with beacons.

The company is Mahana and the co-founders Bryan Menell and Richard Bagdonas have been quick to adapt beacons to augment the restaurant experience. It starts with a simple pain felt by all of us when we go to a restaurant - the dreaded wait time - and then quickly escalates to building a deeper, more engaging, transferable, relationship with the patron.

The restaurant is a great learning environment for everyone interested in integrating beacons into their business. You'll see in this episode that many of the challenges that Bryan and Richard have overcome are the same ones across industry. You will also see the true, subtle power (when done properly) of transformation beacons will bring to all industries - just let your imagination roam.

Bryan and Richard are open about the challenges they've had implementing and selling beacons to their customers - many of which are inherent of being in the first wave of a movement. You'll hear how they dealt with power issues, how they brought it into an existing process, how they sell to restaurants, how they plan to scale, how they raised a seed round, why they focused on restaurants, how they are dealing with app discovery and how they market their product. We also spend some time speculating about the future of the service industry in a beacon-laden world.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-510-how-beacons-bring-service-back-in-to-focus-with-mahana-co-founders-bryan-menell-and-richard-bagdonas/

EP #509: How mobile will help retailers combat showrooming - with Yan Simard of ZapTap

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:19:48 +0000

We are turning a corner in the rocky relationship between retail and mobile.

At first there was disdain as retailers looked at mobile as the web's ugly little child. Not worth the effort to invest in, not worthy of the brand stamp, not a threat. Just. Simply. Not.

Then the fear and confusion arose as upstarts and digital-only retailers promptly handed traditional retail a world of pain and discomfort. Showrooming emerged as a term at the expense of those that ignored the threat so prominently displayed by early mobile adopters.

Now, a somewhat calmer world where retailers, scared, scarred and clinging to life from the first three rounds of this fight, are slowly understanding what the mobile world means to their business (incidentally, for those that don't know, it means pretty much everything).

A large part of this transformation is as a result of the emergence of real-life-to-digital connectors with the mobile phone being (for now) the center. One such company is Canadian-based ZapTap who are focused on deepening the relationship with customers and driving more sales while they are in the store.

Founder Yan Simard has been waiting for almost a decade for the technology to emerge to allow him to build ZapTap. In this episode you will see the depth of knowledge he has as his company helps the struggling retailer to make the right mobile decisions. You will also get a glimpse into the complexity mobile has brought to retail but with that complexity comes incredible (and I mean INCREDIBLE) opportunity.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-509-how-mobile-will-help-retailers-combat-showrooming-with-yan-simard-of-zaptap/

EP #508: How Directr is bringing video production to the mobile masses - with Founder Eli Schleifer

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:19:43 +0000

The disruptive force that is mobile has done two things to traditional industry: It has either completely destroyed it or it has completely democratized it. Take the fact that mobile has completely eradicated camera film - and Kodak in the process - while sending lower quality point and shoot cameras into oblivion. Destruction. Democratization has happened as mobile emerged as a new normal and companies started to understand its power. It has affected broad concepts around global entrepreneurship, retail, commerce, health and entertainment. In these, mobile has augmented or created new opportunities - for some.

Right in line with this democratization is the process of taking and sharing photos and, now, taking, editing and sharing high-quality, well-produced video. Once the domain of expensive people and sets, mobile is in the process of bringing this down to the average person and this episode focuses on one such company.

Eli Schleifer founded Directr to make it easier for all of us to make great videos. They have built it from a mobile mindset - instead of mimicking a standard desktop interface (which, incidentally, never works) - and have created a product that helps build high-quality video from a mobile device (with computing help from the cloud) easily and quickly.

This is the story of a company looking to do to video what the smartphone has done to the camera: Disrupt, destroy and augment.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-508-how-directr-is-bringing-video-production-to-the-mobile-masses-with-founder-eli-schleifer/

EP #507: Why the Internet of Things is about connecting life, not devices - with Sense founder Rafi Haladjian

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:19:40 +0000

If you are confused about the Internet of Things, watch this episode. Seriously.

Rafi Haladjian has been doing this whole IoT thing for many many years and his views on it are some of the most unique and prescient that I've come across. He is the founder and CEO of a company called Sense, inventors of Mother - a combination of devices, the cloud and dashboards to collect and make sense of the resulting data. The outcome of all of this will be a legion of smart services and apps as a result.

The current thinking around the Internet of Things (IoT) is to load up every single thing we wear, carry, drive, eat, watch and stand on with sensors. Those sensors feed back up into the cloud where data is collected and made big. This is a simple, rudimentary, bloated and wasteful process. That's where Sense comes in. The idea that we need sensors everywhere and in everything is not the guiding principle for this company or their founders. Instead, the platform of sensors they are building will become transient - use them for a while, move them when you are done while building an ecosystem of smart apps for each purpose.

A lot of thought has gone into the creation of this platform over the last 11 years and Rafi's approach has had the most profound impact on my thinking about this world we are entering.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-507-why-the-internet-of-things-is-about-connecting-life-not-devices-with-sense-founder-rafi-haladjian/

EP #506: How the Internet of Things turns the world into an app - with author Gary Schwartz

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:19:36 +0000

We all have our own thoughts on what the Internet of Things will look and act like. We also have our concerns about how we will all interact with it be that with or without our knowledge. According to today's guest, Gary Schwartz, we are entering a world of connected apps and our phone is the tie that binds it all together. What does this mean to our business, our security and our privacy?

Gary is a two-time author and the right guy to help chart a path for us on what the short future looks like for the Internet of Things economy. We tackle what the right layers are required in order to achieve the promise of a connected (and managed) world, the privacy debate that is raging in governments around the world and the opportunities that lie in front of the brave entrepreneurs willing to enter the fray.

Gary is a frequent guest of friend of UNTETHER and all his appearances can be found here.

EP #505: Behind the scenes of a mobile startup - with Thinknear co-founder Eli Portnoy

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:19:30 +0000

It has been 31 months since I last sat down with Eli Portnoy, co-founder of Thinknear, and to say things have changed would be an understatement. This episode highlights the epitome of being a startup in the ever-changing mobile ecosystem. The story of Thinknear really does mimic the flight paths of many of the most successful startups that are emerging from round one of mobile but the road was not always straight and the path not always clear.

When we last spoke in August of 2011, Eli and the Thinknear team were focused on a business model that would quickly need to change. This is where the story picks up from and includes 2 shifts in business models, holding a team together, having faith in decisions, working with investors and ultimately being acquired by a Telenav. Oh, did I forget to mention flourishing as well?

Part startup story and all survivor story, Eli shows what it REALLY takes to make your way through the rough entrepreneurial waters - mud and all.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-505-behind-the-scenes-of-a-mobile-startup-with-thinknear-co-founder-eli-portnoy/

EP #504: Design is medicine with Juhan Sonin of Involution Studios

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:19:26 +0000

Think about all the opportunities that happen during your day where health data could be collected. We already monitor how we sleep, the number of steps we walk, the air quality, the food we eat, the amount of exercise we get, our weight, etc. The thing about all of these is that they require human input or initiative. We have to strap something on, punch something in or stand on something and, as Juhan Sonin of Involution Studios demonstrates in this episode, humans are quite often the problem.

The challenges of building for the health industry are many but there is tremendous opportunity for innovation and disruption that is literally in our house or car. How? Sensors. Not the generation of sensors worn on wrists but the idea that everything we interact with - a sink, a toilet, a shower, a car seat, a bed or even a bath matt - could help us make decisions that will lead to a healthier and longer life.

This conversation is insanely great and so relevant to the wearable, Internet of Things and mobile world. So much so that it intersects at a point where there is so much change happening and so much innovation and so much disruption that entrepreneurs should be salivating at what is to come.

I saw Juhan speak at UXCamp Ottawa in the fall and knew he would bend minds on UNTETHER.tv and he will do just that to you. Money back guarantee. Just watch and enjoy.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-504-design-is-medicine-with-juhan-sonin-of-involution-studios/

EP #503: How mobile turns outdoor media into interactive canvases - with Bluebite co-founder Mikhail Damiani

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:19:22 +0000

Look around you. I'm pretty sure you are in plain sight of a sign, a poster or a store window. They have been in use our entire lives, posted, tacked, stuck or on display, having a one-way dialogue and doing their best to entice you to buy, share, save or show up to something.

Mobile changes all that.

Mikhail Damiani is the co-founder of New York-based Bluebite, a company focused on delivering the best content at the "moment of maximum influence" and they do this by bringing static out of home advertising to life. This episode is really a glimpse of the best practices for companies to start using the once-static billboard or poster or store window as interactive canvases that produce customer interactions and even sales.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-503-how-mobile-turns-outdoor-media-into-interactive-canvases-with-bluebite-co-founder-mikhail-damiani/

EP #502: The Secure Space just beyond the limit of app trust - with Graphite co-founder Alec Main

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:19:18 +0000

Are we all getting a little wiser when it comes to our mobile security? Sure, fingerprint scanning and password lock screens are a start but those aren't the real challenges when it comes to protecting your identity from prying eyes. Much of what is shared is given away once you have already passed your security checkpoints. I'm talking about the price we all pay in order to use mobile applications: Our Facebook credentials and those of our extended social network, our email addresses, our phone numbers, our kids names and even our credit card and banking information.

Protecting this information should be important to us all. We don't offer it up on our business cards, we don't give it away to strangers, we don't put it on our mailboxes yet, for some reason, we readily give it away to apps that ask us for that permission - often without a thought.

Today's guest is trying to help secure our app world. His name is Alec Main and he is the co-founder of an Ottawa, Canada based company called Graphite Software. Graphite focuses on creating isolated "spaces" that control different personas of permissions - think of it as a sandbox for your apps. Trusted apps go in one, work apps in another and temporary (or "not-as-trusted") apps can go in another. You get the point.

Alec and his team have a deep-rooted pedigree in security with a previous exit under their belt and are now focusing on a consumer story in an emerging field. Giving control of identity and security to the mobile user is a must for our industry to flourish unfettered. We dive into the state of acceptance for this kind of software, the commercial potential for "branded" spaces of curated content and temporary apps and how they were able to land their first customers.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-502-the-secure-space-just-beyond-the-limit-of-app-trust-with-graphite-co-founder-alec-main/

EP #501: Why the state of our Mobile Union is rock solid - with Chetan Sharma

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:19:12 +0000

For those that are unfamiliar with Chetan Sharma you are now about to become disciples.

Chetan is the president of Chetan Sharma Consulting and is one of the leading voices and minds in the mobile industry and this episode shows why. Every year Chetan puts together a mobile industry predictions survey and with it comes great insight to help industry find their way in this sometimes confusing mobile world we have emerged into. This episode dives into the results of the survey and more.

No topic is off limits including what Chetan would do if he ran the mobile group at Microsoft, an assessment of BlackBerry's future, Google's strategy, Facebook's ability to pivot to a mobile-first company and Amazon's potential foray into the smartphone market. Chetan also offers up insight on the wearables industry and some ripe verticals ready for disruption for enterprising entrepreneurs and businesses.

This is NOT to be missed. Seriously.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-501-why-the-state-of-our-mobile-union-is-rock-solid-with-chetan-sharma/

EP #500: 9 SMS and mobile marketing tactics you can use today - with Greg Hickman author of the SMS Marketing Handbook

rwoodbridge@gmail.com (Rob Woodbridge) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:19:03 +0000

The number one question today's guest, Greg Hickman of Mobile Mixed, gets from his podcast listeners is about SMS. Greg is an expert mobile marketer and the author of the brand new resource The SMS Marketing Handbook. He's been involved in mobile marketing for 9 years and brings his vast insight to us to help kickstart or reignite your mobile marketing efforts.

SMS is not dead, just massively misunderstood and this episode dives into tactics for you to use to effectively bring SMS into your business right away. We also tackle the biggest opportunities for businesses to use mobile in their marketing mix and wax about the perfect location-based, contextually-relevant message - the golden unicorn of mobile marketing.

I've known Greg since he started his podcast a few years ago and am ashamed that he hasn't been on the show until now but it was worth the wait.

Full show notes can be found here: http://untether.tv/2014/ep-500-9-sms-and-mobile-marketing-tactics-you-can-use-today-with-greg-hickman-author-of-the-sms-marketing-handbook/