London, UK-based app developers Blippar will soon be launching a brilliant platform for garnering pull-based mobile response to ads by with some ultra-cool augmented reality tools.

Instead of using software on a mobile phone to scan a QR code, users will be able to make print advertisements like transit shelters, billboards "come alive" with interactive content. Viewing the ad through their mobile device's camera on Blippar overlays rich dynamic content from the web that can contain games, contests, additional content related to the ad.

Blippar's launch date hasn't been announced yet, but we'll surely be reporting back once we get a chance to try it out. Follow them on Twitter for launch updates. http://twitter.com/blippar


Have a look at the demo video here...

 

Yesterday, Google announced the launch of Google Wallet, a system that uses near-field communication devices inside of mobile phones to send payments. At this time the system is only supported in the US on Samsung Nexus S 4G "Google Phone" wireless devices. Sprint is the only carrier offering support, with Citi PayPass MasterCard credit cards as the primary supported payment method. There are also virtual prepaid credit card options through Google and many other payment methods coming up quickly. In addition to payments, Google Wallet will keep receipts, and store multiple cards, coupons and loyalty programs.

The system may have slightly limited support at launch, but the range of future applications is mind-blowing. Google is currently testing links between Google Wallet and their other products, such as Google Maps, Google Latitude, and Google Offers. It’s possible that a user may be able to be pushed a coupon for local businesses (imagine walking by your favourite restaurant and having a coupon sent to your phone) or that retailers will be able to issue coupons via mobile and easily track when and where they’re being redeemed via Google Wallet.

Near-field communication payment systems on mobile went mainstream back in 2005 in Japan and South Korea, and now are widely accepted. Google’s challenge now is getting the system’s device support expanded quickly enough - and payments accepted widely enough – to take advantage of the appetite in the North American market for payments via mobile phone.

Last year, Seattle-based comedy bloggers Cheezburger Network (ICanHasCheezeburger, IHasAHotDog, FailBlog, MemeBase) introduced "Cheezburger Collectable Trophies" to an already extremely active member community.

The collectables (in the form of graphical badges that are displayed on the user's profile) can be earned, traded with other users, gifted and purchased. Members earn trophies by adding friends, creating content for the sites and sharing content on Facebook or Twitter. There are also many "secret" ways that users can discover new trophies by interacting with the site in different ways.

Trophies, also known as collectables or badges, trace their (recent) roots to the gaming world, with trophies being included in most game titles as well as online games such as Zynga's FarmVille and Mafia Wars. In recent years, the concept of "gamification" of social media has developed to such a degree that there are now sites such as Empire Avenue that creates a kind of stock market out of social media-based activity and reward badges.

Cheezburger Network is one recent addition to a long list of social media outlets introducing trophies - Wikipedia, StackOverflow and Foursquare all have well established programs. Badges and trophies present many opportunities to help build an online community. They can be used to encourage users to increase their participation in communities and collect badges by varying their activities in the community and trying new features and sharing methods.

It's very probable that these virtual honours and "gamification" will start to be applied into other areas of business, not only in social media and marketing.