2012 is the year for mobile. Companies, and now entire industries, are catching on to the craze that is mobile payments. Countries around the world have began testing mobile payment systems in the transportation industry for reasons of convenience and efficiency.

Imagine being able to reserve a taxi, track it’s status, and pay for service, all on a mobile app. Get Taxi does just that, and those living in London and Tel Aviv are incorporating its use into their daily lives. Get Taxi coordinates cab pickups and payments while eliminating phone calls and the frustration associated with unreliable service. Users of this app can track their reserved taxi in real time on a smartphone’s map. This app also benefits the driver by bypassing the need for a dispatcher and welcoming cash, credit cards and business accounts for payment.

So here’s hoping that it wont be long before Get Taxi makes it way to the US. Also mentioned in this article are VeriFone payment technologies and high-tech solutions for subway payment. Check it out to learn more.

Sammy Frankel

Check out this cool video from the Pittsburgh Technology Council that features Pittsburgh based companies and their successful and innovative projects. Tune in at 1:45 of the video to see the shout out to Songwhale for mobile content!

Social Media is changing the way we experience and enjoy important events, like last night’s Super Bowl. If you check out your Facebook news feed, I guarantee that at least one of your friends has shared his or her favorite commercial from last night. In the final three minutes of the game, there was a recorded average of 10,000 tweets per second (TPS)! This just goes to show the increasing relevance and popularity of Twitter during important events. While the majority of last night’s Twitter posts were about plays, scores, and athletes, others, like me, were tweeting about their Super Bowl food consumption.

To date, the event that holds the all-time record for tweets per second was the premiere of the Japanese movie “Castles in the Sky” with 25,088 TPS! What event do you think will beat out “Castles in the Sky” for the number one spot? 

Check out the link above for some other high traffic Twitter events.

Questions or Comments? Tweet  me @Sammyfrankss or @Songwhale

Sammy Frankel

They are calling this year’s game the first “second screen” Super Bowl. How will you be interacting with the game and commercials this upcoming Sunday? 

Check out this great article from USA Today that explains how you’ll see mobile used this weekend during Super Bowl festivities. 

Maybe since I work for a mobile company I’m biased, but I’m a huge believer that companies need to be involved with mobile in some way. Whether it’s simply a mobile site, text-alerts, apps, etc. 

Relating to my above statement, Mobile Marketer recently posted a great article, “Mobile is a must-have for agencies in 2012”.

The article highlights that brands and agencies must:

1. Keep pace with mobile activity
2. Make a mobile commitment 
3. Take the fundamental shift towards mobile

These three aspects remain vital to the survival of brands and agencies. More than ever, clients and customers want to know how mobile and digital technology are being integrated into the companies. 

How has your company integrated mobile into your digital strategy? Will mobile campaigns or activity be a primary focus for your business?

Let us know! 

Katie Stout

Check out this amazing project in the pipeline from our friends at the Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University! http://highpointpark.org/

Check us out and add us to your circles.

A great find today on information week: ”New figures show that the Internet Explorer 6 browser is now in use by less than 1% of Web surfers in the United States. Microsoft has been for years trying to get Web developers and users to move to newer versions of Explorer, such as IE8 or IE9, which offer enhanced security and privacy controls. ”