By Randy Smith,
Mobile Wallet Media
September 29, 2012
The Western States Acquirers Conference had high impact statements and speakers delivered in a small package. Two of the general sessions were "Embracing Change; Staying Relevant in the Changing Payments Landscape" and "Future of Acquiring . . . Will you Wipe Out or Catch the Big One?" The wake-up call to reality is ringing and it is time to answer the call. If you can't beat the join them, might provide the answer.
It seems like the overarching message being delivered here was, don't panic, but do take action now! Attending diverse trade shows in this past year and past 15 years, I've come to hear the words 'Disruption' and 'Innovation' a lot. These two words, in 2012 have lead the pack for trendy words used in business and technology. The words address the issue of change and remaining 'relevant,' also another trendy word in our vocabulary today.
The word Disruption in Silicon Valley and the tech industry represents a method of being innovative by creatively solving problems or providing a solution that could be done in a much better, simpler, quicker or more cost-efficient way. Disruption is innovation and vice-versa. It is only when it is you that is being disrupted that it is viewed with disdain or threat. But this is business and competition and change is always the constant. To stick your head in the sand and think that things will remain the same as they have always been is strategy that will deliver your worst fears to become reality.
Innovation is offense. It is moving the ball forward and the best defense is a great offense. The SR-71 BlackBird was developed in the 1960's by Lockheed Corporation. It can fly as high an altitude as 100,000 feet with 3 times the speed of sound (3.5 Mach). It was in use by USAF for 40 years and was retired in 1998. It actually had no defensive weapons, but relied solely on it's speed, stealth and maneuverability to evade it's enemies. In all it's years of service it was never shot down. But even it was retired after 30+ years in service. Why? It was retired because the next generation of technology was ready to replace it. And now is the time that new innovation is replacing the status quo.
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By Randy Smith,
Mobile Wallet Media
September 26, 2012
The Mobile Engagement In Retail Conference, in Denver on September 13-14, was a very well-rounded event. I gained new insights from experts in mobile retail, advertising, loyalty and payments.
Could Digital Watermarking replace QR or 2D barcodes? After seeing how Digimarc's technology works, my only question is why wouldn't it replace QR codes? It seems all that is needed is a branding and education campaign to make their tech dominant.
Digimarc's, Ed Knudsen explained how Digital Watermarks work much like a QR code scanner. Their app is called "Digimarc Discover App" and is avaibable for iphone and Android. To sum it up, the technology works by scanning digital or print images. Digimarc's code is not visiible to the human eye, but when scanned, works like a QR code. The user may be directed directly to a web page about the product or image content, page to buy the product featured or a coupon with a 1D or 2D bar code. It seems like the scanning of a Digimarc code takes just about as long as scanning a QR code. So for use with mobile phone or tablet app scanning, why are they better than QR codes?
Digimarc's Digital Watermarks are currently not better than QR codes, only because they are not understood or even perceived by consumers. When consumers see a QR or 2D bar code many if not most tech savvy cosumers recognize what they are and have used a scanner on their phone. This is not the case with DigiMarc's technology. However, QR codes are everywhere and are just plain ugly and do not work well to compliement beautifully crafted images.
So it appears that all Digimarc needs to do is ramp up their publicity and media campaign to educate consumers, retailers and advertisers about their very cool and seamless tech. They have already struck big deals with major companies. Their use on Pinterest, the 3rd largest social network in the world with 104 million users, 80% of which are woman and half moms, is quite a compelling use of their tech. Digimarc's technology is also used for ID authentication and to prevent currency counterfitting. Think of how different the world might look without ugly QR codes and with the branding and advertising possibilities with Digital Watermarking. I don't think they will replace QR codes displayed for scan at POS.
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