Saturday, 10 April 2010

The 'Independent' - Always First With The Technology News...

A man walks down a busy high street towards a well-known coffee chain. As he gets within 500 yards of the café, his mobile phone buzzes in his pocket with an advert from the company offering him a discount on a cup of coffee.

It might sound like a scene from the science fiction film Minority Report, but personalised advertising techniques such as this are closer to becoming a reality than ever before.
I have an iPhone. Before I got it, I had a bog-standard Ericcson.

I left Bluetooth on because I was driving, and forgot to turn it off as I shopped. As I got near to Debenhams, I got a text message Bluetoothed to me from their wifi advertising a sale.

That was two years ago.
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4 comments:

  1. The Great Simpleton10 April 2010 at 11:42

    I worked on a mobile license bid in Hong Kong in 1995. One of my colleagues wrote a paper that predicted these types of advertising and other location based services. Not only that he showed how it could be deliverd with what was then current technolgy, although it would have been expensive.

    The client dismissed it as "scifi bullshit" but left it in the bid. The company is called Sunday and has been delivering those services for years.

    We are so backward in this country and don't realise it.

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  2. woman on a raft10 April 2010 at 11:52

    Pshaw. My nana, who doesn't even have a mobile, has a psychic connection to Marks and Spencers.

    We've said that when she dies, we are going to have her taxidermied and dressed in MS, then just stand her in the ladies' suiting department. We'll just pop in and out to change her seasonal outfits.

    It's what she would have wanted.

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  3. microdave10 April 2010 at 13:54

    @ WOAR - I saw a flyer pinned to a nearby telephone pole which had details of a local Psyhic's convention. Why would they need to advertise it???

    No risk of my phone getting targeted adverts. It's an 8 year old NEC G9 - NO Bluetooth, touchscreen, MP3 player, camera etc. But it works in places no modern "Phone" will....

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  4. JuliaM11 April 2010 at 06:24

    "We are so backward in this country and don't realise it."

    Indeed. And with the dumbing down of any attempts to teach critical thinking skills in schools, we likely never will...

    "It's what she would have wanted."

    :D

    "It's an 8 year old NEC G9 - NO Bluetooth, touchscreen, MP3 player, camera etc."

    *faints*

    ReplyDelete