The company has made yet another purchase that has moved it further into the smartphone advertising sphere.
IBM has just announced that its purchasing spree has continued with its acquisition of Xtify, a mobile marketing company, which it has obtained for an undisclosed sum.
The company explained that the deal would give digital advertisers better interaction opportunities.
IBM explained that it would help mobile marketing companies to be able to increase their ability for interaction with consumers over mobile platforms through the use of in-app capabilities. This involves options such as running competitions, alerting customers regarding new promotions, and adding content to the apps themselves. The technology will be available within the Smarter Commerce offerings suite from IBM.
The acquisition of Xtify brings IBM mobile marketing for a number of sizeable customers.
Along with the purchase of mobile marketing opportunities with Xtify, IBM will also be receiving a number of that smaller company’s notable customers, which include 20th Century Fox and Disney Stores.
The vice president for digital marketing at IBM, Kevin Bishop, explained that the track record at Xtify for meeting agendas for mobile marketing is an ideal complement to the portfolio of offerings that are already available at IBM. He said that “With the increase of mobile devices, organisations across all industries are anxious to develop a mobile approach to engage their customers. The acquisition of Xtify provides new ways for our clients to foster a direct, one-to-one communication channel with their customers.”
The CEO of Xtify, Josh Rochlin, stated that he felt that bringing his company into IBM will provided them with the chance to meet a far wider range of customer needs than has ever been possible for that business. He said that the capability for mobile marketing and messaging at Xtify, in combination with the cloud infrastructure and analytics at IBM will give marketers a tremendous arsenal of rich content at with a global reach for informing and influencing a growing number of consumers who regularly use smartphones and tablets.
He went on to point out that the best time to provide mobile marketing content to customers is at exactly the time and place that they are seeking it. This acquisition greatly enhances ad relevancy.
The automaker’s supercar is not only advanced on the road, but also in its mobile compatibility.
The Volkswagen XL1 is already being seen as one of the most advanced vehicles in the world, as well as being among the most fuel efficient, but now the auto manufacturer is taking the additional step of adding augmented reality to its repair manual in order to ensure that this automobile keeps itself on the cutting edge right down to the finest detail.
This additional mobile feature is available to iPad users for extensive ownership and maintenance information.
Through a partnership with Mataio, Volkswagen created an augmented reality iPad app that gives the device user the ability to view step by step instructions for the repair, replacement, dismantling, and reassembling of each of the 261-mpg supercar components. Although this is not the first time that an auto maker has added AR to its manual, this is by far the most extensive use of the technology as it has been applied for every intricate component and not just general information about basic maintenance.
The automotive environment lends itself very well to the use of augmented reality technology.
Metaio was selected for the augmented reality repair manual as the company is currently a leader in AR apps, from printer repairs to catalogs. Auto repair fit right into the type or project that they create.
Audi, corporate cousins of VW, have already released an augmented reality app that allows owners of the A3 to better get to know their vehicles and their features. This technology can also be very helpful in guiding mechanics around the complex component systems located under the hood of the vehicles, and that is just the additional step that Volkswagen has taken.
Before beginning any work on the Volskswagen XL1, mechanics now receive a set of instructions regarding the use of the augmented reality app so that it can be initialized for the specific task that must be accomplished. The mechanic is provided with a virtual silhouette of the vehicle which, when viewed through the iPad screen as a kind of viewfinder, overlays the image on the actual vehicle.
Once the augmented reality image is aligned, the mechanic is provided with a number of steps, including the tools that are required, tolerances, double checking real and virtual parts (in 3D relation to one another).
