Sent to me via an unnamed phone network source of mine.
For Grownups:
Another unnamed source who works Apple told me new products usually come out in summer, but as the celebrity babies noted the iPhone 5 has been rumored to be delayed until next fall in order to handle a 4G network.
AT&T’s recent acquisition of T-Mobile was in order to improve their existing network, but work on the 4G LTE is still going on with an indefinite completion. There are several Androids on Verizon which can handle their “lightning fast” 4G LTE, one of which being the THUNDERBOLT, (sucker for ad lines), I will be the proud owner when it arrives via US Post at my 1960s house…thus I understand Baby 1’s frustration in having a 3GS in a 4G world. Some funny PR man tweeted it correctly: “iPhones aren’t popular anymore. Everyone has them.”
The NFC payments Baby 1 was promoting are “near field communication”, meaning allowing your digital device to interact with non-electronic devices. An example of this is QR, which you can see fun examples of by major brands in my post: QR Barcodes In Reality. The payments he was discussing are about making your phone your credit card so you don’t have to wait in line or have a plastic card. Starbucks is already doing this very successfully.
In one of my startups articles, I introduced Rabbit QR, a buspreneur from Chicago who was using QR codes to send money between two people on their phones. GREAT PR IDEA HERE: Having an event with QR codes on fliers so people can buy tickets instantly, no hassle. Their method was something like PayPal, a safe way to transfer money electronically.
PayPal is rumored, or going to be pairing with Bump…Bump is an app, a couple years old and similar to Hashable or Hollaback. All of these apps are alternatives to business cards. They transfer your contact information between two phones. Follow the connection? Bump uses a cloud-based transfer over Bluetooth, (like wifi, but not), to transfer information. PayPal wants to use this technology to transfer money between people.
Starting to see the bigger picture? This is what digital strategy is all about, using technology and applying it to new purposes. We are building the matrix, which Baby’s 1 and 2 are eager to wire into.
(PS: I’ve now watched this movie like 5 times and two other versions. Tick, tick, tick…if you happen to be blonde, incredibly goodlooking, have a history of identical twins in your family and into geeky girls, you’re welcome to find where I hang on Foursquare. Dere soooo cuuuuutee….)
Bytes of Rice 