The Friday High Five: Featuring Sony’s New Wearable Prototype

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These are the Friday “High Five” stories in the digital product innovation space during the week of 3/12/2016 to 3/18/2016 we noticed were trending.

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1) Amazon’s new “selfie” payment technology

AmazonSelfie

Amazon recently bought a patent (called “image analysis for user authentication”) on what many consider a “selfie” payments system. It will allow customers to purchase items via something as simple as a wink.

This facial recognition payments system joins many other new technologies for easier purchasing. In a past Friday Five article, we addressed the increasing popularity of mobile payments. Amazon’s new technology brings Google’s version of facial recognition to online shopping.

Concerns over the security of this technology have been, for the most part, resolved. Amazon does a “living” check and biometric technology to confirm the shopper’s identity.

However, there is one noticeable downside to this approach:

If you’re like me and don’t have the ability to wink with one eye, you’ll find it challenging to use this system. It requires the shopper to close only one eye in order to proceed with the payment.

Otherwise, this is another huge step forward in the payments industry, and this technology is likely to continue advancing with time.

We can’t wait to integrate this into a mobile loyalty rewards and payment solution for one of our clients!


2) Virtual reality competition for industry leadership

Oculus_Rift

As we continue to build new technologies, competition grows with it. Virtual reality is no exception. We now have at least 3 major players in the VR market today:

Each system is set to be released this year, so it’s a matter of features and reliability to get the upperhand. While some have praised the HTC Vive, others have given their support to other options.

It’s simply, as stated above, a matter of what the VR system offers in regards to features and how reliable the system is. Nobody wants to pay hundreds of dollars for a VR system that doesn’t offer the optimal experience or crashes after a few uses.

To be a leader in this industry, companies have to offer what none of their competitors do. As a relatively new industry, innovation is still rich and accessible.

It’ll be interesting to see how this market develops over the course of this year and beyond. Which system do you support?


3) The enterprise mobile app development challenge

Enterprise Mobility Report

Apperian created a report on enterprise mobile app development, analyzing its progress or lack thereof over the past year. It’s a free download and worth the read because it provides real insights from actual survey respondents about their challenges in this industry.

An example of a report finding is:

Another example of a report finding is:

Although there are plenty of challenges to mobile app adoption at the enterprise level, Apperian expects it to grow with time. They even cite that 47% of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with their mobile app development, which is a 12% increase from the previous year.

As time goes on, it is likely that enterprise mobile app development will continue to overcome its challenges and grow more popular.


4) Samsung as the new design leader

SamsungGalaxyS7
Samsung recently released its Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. The phones are exceptionally designed, with expectations that it’s as innovative as the original iPhone. The Verve expects this phone to be a
baseline for other companies to build from.

Samsung has had a long, hard road to this point with its many failed products, but these new phones bring the company much further ahead in the industry.

To get the upperhand over its competition, Samsung does something other companies struggle to follow:

They listen and apply consumer feedback.

For example, when consumer complained about storage, Samsung added the SD card slot.

Samsung is bringing the competition back where it was initially believed only Apple could control. Now, Apple has a strong competitor to face; a company that is innovating faster than ever before.


5) Sony’s new wearable prototype

SonyPrototype

In case you missed it, Sony introduced quite an interesting prototype at SXSW this week. It’s a hands-free, personal digital assistant, but the weird part is: you wear it around your neck.

The prototype is still in early development, but it goes one step further than Google Glass. It doesn’t require a screen but rather uses voice commands. It’s still not 100% accurate, but the people running the display insisted it’s a work in progress.

The really cool part about this product is the sound. You can play music from the device and hear it clearly without disturbing the people around you – all while wearing it around your neck! It’ll be exciting to see how this technology advances.

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If you’re looking for ways to join these top-notch, innovational industries, we can help. At Stuzo, we build digital apps for mobile, web, wearables and IoT with precision and passion. Don’t wait for this industry to grow more competitive. Get your own place in the market using Stuzo’s services! Contact us today to learn more.

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