Gary is the president of Impact Mobile, as well as the founder and chair emeritus of the Mobile Marketing Committee for the US Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and the chair of the Americas for the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF)
In his new book, Gary points out that shoppers need to see their smart phone as a Mobile Mouse,enabling one-stop impulse clicks. And it’s going to take a lot more than just iPhone apps to accomplish this. According to Gary, the HTML5 mobile browser—which is more akin to a super-app—will ultimately be the demise of the app as a mainstream commerce medium.
So with the all important holiday season on the horizon, retailers should consider shifting some of their attention into developing an m-commerce campaign instead of putting all of their budgets into in-store and online holiday specials.
Are there more opportunities for retailers to increase their ROI by heightening functionality and interactivity via the shopper’s phone, rather than shoving it down their throats with relentless holiday music?
Gary thinks so. And, the answers, he says, are all over the store—just look around at all existing communication hubs and put an ‘M’ in front. (more …)
http://www.tekservepos.com/tekblog/cat/13/item/96
About Gary Schwartz
Over the past ten years, Gary Schwartz has played a leadership role in the mobile industry. Gary is the CEO of Impact Mobile, Inc., Chair of MEF North America and is the author of "THE IMPULSE ECONOMY" published by Published by Simon & Schuster, Aria Imprint.
Twitter @impulseeconomy
In 2002, Gary ran the first cross-carrier short code campaign in North America. In 2006, Gary founded the mobile committee for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (www.iab.net) and has worked to publish literature such as the Mobile Buyer's Guide helping extend the digital buy into mobile (for which he received an IAB award for industry excellence in 2009).
Additionally, in 2007, Gary started work to help establish a joint task force between the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and the IAB with the aid of the Media Rating Council (MRC) to develop global, auditable mobile measurement standards.
In 2010, Gary was elected as the Chair of MEF North America (www.m-e-f.org) with a remit to develop a mobile commerce practice to service brands, retailers and content owners (for which he received a MEF award for industry excellence). In 2011, in partnership with MEF and a number of industry groups including the X9 security standards body, Gary is working to develop m-commerce security and privacy guidelines.
Gary is the recipient of the Macromedia People Choice Award as well as the Dodge Foundation award for innovation. Gary is an Asia and Japan Foundation Fellow.
