Street Fight Daily: Apple Locks NFC to Apple Pay, Clear Channel Rebrands
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology
Apple’s iPhone 6 NFC Chip is Restricted to Apple Pay (Verge)
Apple’s move to integrate NFC in its latest iPhone 6 seemed like the perfect way to push the technology even further to the masses. But the NFC chip in the iPhone 6 is restricted to Apple Pay, the company’s new mobile payments platform.
With IPO Under Is Belt, Wix Plans to Move Beyond the Website (Street Fight)
Street Fight recently caught up with Joe Pallaro, Wix’s vice president of strategic partnerships, to talk about the company’s plans to move beyond website development, its bet on self-service, and what it looks for in a partner.
Clear Channel Rebrands As IHeartMedia (AdAge)
Just two years after it stripped “radio” from its corporate title, the radio behemoth is taking on the name of its digital-radio platform. Clear Channel will now be called iHeartMedia after its iHeartRadio platform, the company said today.
Is the Mobile Check-In Dead? (AdWeek)
Mobile check-ins were red-hot when Foursquare launched in 2009, followed by Facebook Places in 2010. But by 2012, the trend had lost significant steam and is now rarely used in branding efforts. However, a new case study from Denny’s suggests that marketers might not consider the check-in obsolete — yet.
How Google’s Product Listing Ads Are Hurting Home Remodelers (Street Fight)
Todd Bairstow: In the name of a strong user experience and a better advertiser experience, Google’s product listings algorithm could be adjusted to better reflect the intent of homeowner search queries.
Subway Launching Massive Mobile Payments Plan Next Month (Mashable)
Subway has inked a deal with Softcard to offer NFC-based mobile payments in its 26,000 locations starting Oct. 1, making it perhaps the biggest mobile payment retail program to date in the United States. Softcard users will get $1 back on each purchase more than $1 made with the American Express Serve card through the end of the year.
German Court Lifts Ban on Uber Ride Service (New York Times)
A court in Frankfurt overturned a nationwide ban against the company’s car-sharing service in Germany, lifting one of the most severe legal restrictions that Uber had faced anywhere in the world since it was founded in 2009.
When Digital Meets Physical: Don’t Chase the Shiny Penny (AdAge)
A quartet of ad agency executives that work intimately with emerging technologies advised careful consideration for brands diving into these new physical platforms. Some clients will demand to deploy a new gizmo simply because it’s new, said Damian Gutierrez, associate partner with the Control Group.
Barclaycard Trials Wearable Contactless Wristband ‘Wallet’ In London (Daily Mail)
The bPay band has been developed by Barclaycard although it can be used by anyone, regardless of who they bank with. The band contains a smart chip and a tiny radio antenna that triggers a payment when it is swiped over a terminal on a bus or the security barrier at an underground or train station.
Yelp Settles U.S. Suit Over Collecting Data on Children (Businessweek)
Yelp said it paid $450,000 to settle a U.S. regulator’s lawsuit accusing it of collecting names and e-mail addresses from children as young as 9 without the consent of their parents. The FTC alleged that Yelp violated privacy laws by gathering the information from children who signed up for an account.
Zara Builds Its Business Around RFID (Wall Street Journal)
For more than a decade, radio frequency identification chips were touted as a game-changer for retailers. Now, apparel powerhouse Inditex, parent of the Zara chain, says it has learned from competitors’ experience and is rolling out RFID technology throughout the operations of its signature brand. (Subscription required)
Google Revives, Upgrades My Maps (SearchEngineLand)
Like many of Google’s local/mapping products, My Maps has had a “checkered” history. The new version is an update to the Google Maps Engine Lite product that Google rolled out in early 2013.
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