Daring and gutsy!

The new Volkswagen GTI will be launched making exclusively use of Mobile Marketing.
Even more outstanding is the fact that it will be only promoted via the iPhone app “Real Racing GTI” which will let users enter automatically in a draw to win one of the six limited editions of the car. Check out the competition rules here.

According to Tim Ellis, VP of marketing for Volkswagen in the US, the typical GTI driver makes use of social networking, plays games, makes use of mobile devices and is tech-savvy.

It’s a perfect combination with the iPhone as an innovative device, well thought by Volkswagen and the game itself, well an excellent racing game! Very good and sharp graphics, great control over the car and easy to play. Much better than most iPhone racing games.

Graphics on the iPhone itself are much sharper than shown above.

That is the clear way ABI Research announces its press release on her Augmented Reality research.
Interesting to read the predictions and have confirmation from a company such as ABI Research which forecasts emerging trends in global connectivity.

Besides the growth of Augmented Reality, attention must be given to the cause of this: smartphones.
Again the mobile device has influence and an important role on how a technology can go mainstream very fast, before the adoption of smartphones (in particular iPhone and Android-enabled mobiles) the awareness on Augmented Reality technology was limited. The technology does exist already for 15 years.
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I created the category Collective Intelligence to have open discussions on certain topics, mainly through Google Wave, being able to experiment.
The fact that the content in a Wave is centralized, portable but also bounded (by displaying) on a specific site creates new angles.

Discuss through Wave or post your comment below.

Google Wave, two weeks in progress and what an impression!

It’s great to experience the initial stages of a project of this magnitude which is disruptive and innovative as Google Wave.
One of the first things I found striking is being accustomed to get in contact with anybody, be it via email, social network or another mean. This is not yet the case with Google Wave, the amount of invites (thus the slow diffusion / adoption) amongst the potential users is causing part of this slow kick start. As long as not everybody has access to the platform it has an opposite effect.

Secondly, the current buggy state does not contribute to a good and easy initial experience as Google Wave has a learning curve to figure out all the options and possibilities (check out for the many explenatory videos on Youtube concerning Google Wave), for many non-tech-savvy people this is an obstruction and will not motivate.

Thirdly and most importantly, all the Waves and its interactions, I’m having the same kind of feeling which I had in the old days when I was getting acquainted with Internet, email, chat, messageboards and other applications.
The other participants and I are finding out how to applicate Waves in what kind of settings and purposes, educating and pointing out each other and reinforcing the Collaborative Curve in the initial stages of the platform.
It’s the same learning path and discovery, it’s the same eagerness to learn the opportunities and possibilities, it’s the same child-like marveling!

Learning by process and enhancing each others skills will fire up enthausiasm and exploration.

If you want to involve me in Waves or get in touch with me via Google Wave, do add me with gcuccuredduamg [at] googlewave.com , let’s get in touch, share and learn.

What are your initial impressions using Google Wave?

Excellent example of a Dutch educational Augmented Reality initiative. It shows perfectly how Augmented Reality can attract attention amongst the public -including Generation Z, being our future generation- to inform about climate change and make an educational effort interesting and fun. ( Both the booklet and website are in Dutch. )

Selexyz developed this initiative to support the HIER climate-campaign.
A massive 1,3 million copies are being spread through channels, plus the booklet is available at Selexyz stores.
Last Monday (12 October) Ruud Lubbers presented the first copy in The Hague, as a Worldconnector he’s involved in this initiative.

Mr. Annan plays an important role as well, he explains the impact of the climate change on the DAARbenik site.
The booklet tells the story of an Ethiopian 12 year old girl, named Halima and how her life is impacted by climate change. 
The booklet has four markers which each tell an aspect of Halima’s life.

If you want to have a glance on how the initiative made use of Augmented Reality, visit the DAARbenik site and download or print the PDF (Print Afbeelding or Hier is het Boekje). You can also watch a video on the website which shows the first marker (Bekijk Video).

I refered explicitely to the Generation Z because this generation is a tech-savvy generation and growing up with technology as a daily part of life, technologies like Augmented Reality will be welcomed and undergone as something ‘usual’ but highly attractive.
Generation Z is also of course the generation which will be impacted and living with changes and it must be nurtured with this sort of awareness.

What other campaigns like these do you know? Do list them in your comment.

Another announcement last week, which I received with enthausiasm, was the approval of the Mobile DTV Standard by the ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee). The press release can be read here.

The Mobile DTV Standard are technical specifications which enable broadcasters to offer new services to mobile and other handheld devices making use of their digital television transmissions (DTV).

Indeed a milestone in the evolution and convergence of digital television. Broadcasters will have a wider range of devices to their disposal to offer existing -but more important- new services to their customers.

New business models arising from the Mobile DTV standard, will revolve around the evolution of Social TV and its convergence. The Mobile DTV Standard enables the possibility of interactive television services which will mix television, mobile and Internet to create new content services/applications and evolve transactional television to the next level. The Standard utilizes the Internet Protocol which increases the role of terrestial broadcasting even more.

The location characterstic of mobile devices, in combination with the increasing centralized role it plays and the mobility of the modern human will prelude a further democratization of television, where smaller/local broadcasters can take their chance to break through to wider audiences without the conventional television business model and its specifications.

As quoted from the press release:

“This milestone ushers in the new era of digital television broadcasting, giving local TV stations and networks new opportunities to reach viewers on the go,” said Paul Karpowicz, NAB Television Board Chairman and President of Meredith Broadcast Group. “This will introduce the power of local broadcasting to a new generation of viewers and provide all-important emergency alert, local news and other programming to consumers across the nation.”

It would be great if the Mobile DTV Standard will be incorporated in popular smartphones in the near future so that these early adopters have the chance to experience the next step in digital television and in this ‘role’ enhancing the applications to smoothen mass adoption.

Good news has reached the world from the Wi-Fi organisation -the Wi-Fi Alliance- and their groundbreaking announcement that Wi-Fi can be connected directly between devices in mid 2010.

This is great news because there won’t be need anymore for a hotspot or router to create a connection.
The Wi-Fi Direct devices are able to make a 1-to-1 connection but as well create a group connection which connects several devices at once. With the implementation of Wi-Fi in a large part of devices, this will impact the industry much.
Think about the ease and simplicity to share content and applications directly between devices. 

Read the press release “Wi-Fi Alliance® announces groundbreaking specification to support direct Wi-Fi connections between devices“.

The main advantages of Wi-fi Direct over Bluetooth is the better speed within a bigger range, why would users choose for an inferior system?
This may sound logical, but Bluetooth came with an 3.0 specification earlier this year which will enhance speed as well. Furthermore Bluetooth 3.0 will enable sharing through Wi-Fi networks, a device with Bluetooth 3.0 can switch between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi whenever it wants/needs.

I don’t think the battle is over yet, and Bluetooth is not overcome yet by.
Increasing competition is good for consumers and raises innovativity.

Let’s see what the future will bring forth!

Do you think that Wi-Fi Direct was the missing piece in data transferment which finally arrived?

I discovered another interesting application of Augmented Reality today.
This is Cisco’s future of shopping:

Augmented Reality can add value to cross-channels campaigns and attract people to stores.
Will these sort of technologies put emphasis on offline business (again) ?

The usage of Augmented Reality is getting accepted more and more in the mainstream for Marketing purposes.

Citroën has applied Augmented Reality to promote her DS3 car.
The first part of the video is what we are getting used to in relation to Augmented Reality.
The second part though is the creative application of Augmented Reality, in the case of Citroën, they applied Augmented Reality in a game simulative manner. Absolutely great!

Check out the video:

Visit the official site of the Citroën DS3 to download the paper and get in action!
How will Augmented Reality influence the console industry?