Artificial Intelligence

By John Gessau, ACI Worldwide   Wow. What a month in the world of mobile payments.   So much has been said and written since Apple Pay was announced on Sept. 9th, up to its official launch on Monday, Oct. 20. If I had dollar for every time Apple Pay was mentioned in the press and in blogs, well…   But Apple Pay isn’t the only thing that has happened since Sept. 9th. There has been a lot going on around the globe:

Sunnyvale, Calif. –- Strong mobile revenue and proceeds from the sale of a portion of its stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. helped Yahoo Inc. beat Wall Street estimates for earnings per share (EPS) and revenue in the third quarter of fiscal 2014. EPS totaled $0.52, up 62% from $0.32 the same quarter the prior fiscal year, and revenue grew 1% to $1.15 billion from $1.14 billion.  

Austin, Texas -- A majority of Americans would be comfortable divulging information about themselves anonymously to their favorite stores (60%) or a product brand (56%), and close to half would anonymously share personal data to an app (46%). According to a new national survey from Wearables.com and The Center for Generational Kinetics, some consumers will also share personal information in exchange for certain benefits.  

Schaumburg, Ill. -- Motorola Solutions Inc. has unveiled the Symbol TC70 touch computer, an enterprise-class mobile computer running the Android KitKat operating system. Designed to boost efficiency and customer service in the retail, wholesale and manufacturing industries, the TC70 is supported by more than 50 certified applications including price and inventory checks, line busting, assisted selling, workforce management and inventory management.  

Epicor Software Corp. has agreed to acquire privately held QuantiSense, Inc., a provider of cloud and on-premises packaged analytic solutions for the retail industry. The acquisition of QuantiSense, expected to close by Oct. 31, 2014, will add QuantiSense business intelligence and advanced retail analytics offerings to the Epicor Retail solutions portfolio, helping empower users to leverage enterprise-wide data as actionable insights to optimize all aspects of their operations, from the supply chain through to multi-channel points of purchase.

New York -- Twenty percent of American adults already own a wearable device and the adoption rate, on par with tablets in 2012, is quickly expected to rise. According to a PwC survey of 1,000 consumers, after dietary, exercise and medical information, an enhanced retail experience was at the top of the list of information Millennials would like wearable tech to provide them.

With marketers all abuzz about beacons, mobile technology company Swirl Networks said it has created the first programmatic ad exchange for proximity-based in store mobile marketing.
 

Leading retail display manufacturer Menasha and in-store beacon technology provider Shelfbucks have joined forces to create “Smart Displays” that put powerful new shopper marketing capabilities in the hands of retailers and brands.