drag2share: Procter & Gamble partners with Mobeam to deliver coupons to your phone
Ah, remember those good 'ol days when we actually used those things called scissors and clipped our coupons when we wanted to save 50 cents from a bottle of Tide? Those activities have already been teetering on the brink of obsolescence since early last year, when Target introduced a program featuring mobile scannable coupons. Google Wallet and Walgreen's have furthered along the concept by offering them as well, and now Procter & Gamble are jumping on board. The company's teamed up with mobeam, a startup which has found a way to make mobile coupons readable using normal laser scanners, still the weapon of choice for many retailers. Next up, the two partners are hoping to work with OEMs to integrate the tech into new phones, push out an app to take advantage of it and begin field testing the process with shoppers and retailers sometime in 2012.
Once it kicks off, any company should be able to issue digital coupons; those who choose to partner with mobeam, however, will have access to opted-in consumer information that tracks which couponing websites the consumer visits, the location and time each coupon is redeemed and other items purchased using the app. Physical coupons will still be around for a while -- P&G asserts that there will still be plenty of coupon-clippers that hunt through newspaper inserts or print them out -- so the old-fashioned method isn't completely dead yet. We'd sure love to see mobile couponing grow to a point where more and more trees are getting saved, though.
Once it kicks off, any company should be able to issue digital coupons; those who choose to partner with mobeam, however, will have access to opted-in consumer information that tracks which couponing websites the consumer visits, the location and time each coupon is redeemed and other items purchased using the app. Physical coupons will still be around for a while -- P&G asserts that there will still be plenty of coupon-clippers that hunt through newspaper inserts or print them out -- so the old-fashioned method isn't completely dead yet. We'd sure love to see mobile couponing grow to a point where more and more trees are getting saved, though.
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Procter & Gamble partners with Mobeam to deliver coupons to your phone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 03:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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