Apple Store Goes EasyPay
Tried out the new EasyPay system in the Apple Store today. Damn cool. If you've updated your Apple Store app recently, enable location services, then the next time you are inside an Apple Store it will detect your location and offer you the new EasyPay option. Simply scan the barcode on your item and make your purchase using the credit card you have on file with iTunes. Sorry, PayPal users, EasyPay hasn't been enabled for your connected PayPal accounts (yet? ever?).It was all smooth and easy--PayPal option not being offered aside--but it's tough for me to be too impressed. I was doing this in Japan more than 10 years ago, way before the iPhone and iPad existed. Ramen shops were offering touch-screens with full menu ordering and payment options before Dragonball--and that abomination of a live-action movie--ever hit it big in the States. I was already buying Pocari Sweat sports drinks from vending machines with my mobile phone not long after Finland launched the first mobile-enabled Coca-Cola machine in 1997. Shoot, even the Philippines had Smart Money in 1999 to manage payments from mobile accounts.
Tirade aside, as with so many things, Apple has the uncanny ability to position their products and services at the right time in a beautiful offering to drive accessibility and adoption. EasyPay is just the beginning of some very exciting things for us in mobile commerce. I can't wait.
How One Company Is Making Millions From Wiki Software
I was hangin' with the good folks at SFNewTech (sfnewtech.com) last week at their French Startup Night. It was interesting to see a strong emphasis on B2B products and services. Spending a lot of time recently with a bunch of consumer app startups, this was a welcome break and inspiring to boot.One company in particular stood out: xwiki.org. They provide an open source collaborative platform using the wiki paradigm. In particular, I was very glad to see someone finally putting a real usable interface on a wiki and driving additional value by introducing structured data. Most of the folks I get to work with are very technical and so traditional wiki markup and structure tends to work out just fine. However, in those times when I have to interact with folks who aren't as comfortable with the markup, it's really difficult to get them to contribute content to a collaborative wiki workspace. Introducing simplifying elements like templates, forms, and structured data makes wiki pages more accessible. Used correctly, structured data can make searching and categorizing your content far more powerful.
What's astounding is that this company already has an enviable list of companies using their platform. This roster brings in a nice tidy income to the tune of a couple million a year. Not bad for a wiki, eh? Proof positive that there's a ton of money to be made in the long tail. What's more, you don't necessarily have to come up with that Earth-shattering, new innovation to do it. Set your sights on a specific audience, simplify their lives or address a pain point, drive value, and people will be willing to pay. Bravo, XWiki!
Proteus Part Three: 3rd Party Content and Services
Be sure to read Proteus Part One and Proteus Part Two.
Last time I wrote about the eBay Commerce Engine pushing content and services from the eBay Inc. family. The value of the ecosystem grows further when you start inviting third party apps and services back in.
Here's the beauty...plug any of these apps or services once into The Cloud and EVERY eBay Inc. property plugged in has instant access.
eBay Motors starts offering CarFAX and Experian reports? Now so can Mobile.de, Bilbasen, and Marktplaats Autos (contracts pending, of course). Muze can now provide music catalog content for all eBay Classifieds media categories. UPS pickup and ship services are available for all Sellers no matter what eBay Inc. site you're on.
Don't need it? Don't use it. Simple.
Cloud Services can even help orchestrate long-latency service providers so you don't endanger each platform's SLA requirements. Asynchronous I/O makes The Cloud do all the work so each platform doesn't consume resources waiting for a response from the service provider.
--- P.S. Remember that "The Cloud" is my own poorly-chosen name for distributed computing that manages services federation and content syndication. Other low-level infrastructure components can also run in The Cloud so each eBay property can offload that work. Before you uber-Architects flay me for technical imprecision, I'm trying to explain this as simply as possible to my non-techie audience.
