My first attempt at using a mobile boarding pass was back in December 2008 with Continental Airlines. I was flying from Cleveland, OH to San Francisco, CA. I used a PC to log in and opted to use a mobile boarding pass rather than print a boarding pass. I used a URL sent to my Gmail account to open up a web page with the boarding pass on my iPhone.

The boarding pass was easy to get on the cell phone, but hard to use in the airport because the right technology, processes and ground crew education were not in place. A mobile strategy can't stop with the design of the mobile component only - there must also be consideration and design of the processes and education for the folks interacting with the cell phone technology in the physical location.

Here is an account of what happened at the airport:

I walked up to the counter to check first if the mobile boarding pass would work. I didn't have confidence. The agent looked at me and in the most polite, kind manner said, "Honey, you need a printed boarding pass to get on that plane." I smiled as she printed out a boarding pass for me, and I thanked her for her help.

I proceeded to the security line. My phone is timed to turn off every 60 seconds. Each time I it turns off, I need to enter a security code for it to turn on. So, as I moved through the security line juggling my bags, laptop, etc., I kept tapping my phone to keep the screen lit.

I was watching TV with my grandmother in Colo, IA (population is under 1000 people) last weekend when a locally made TV commercial came on TV advertising mobile coupons at the local grocer - Dahl's.  The channel was either ESPN or one of the local networks - I don't remember, but my grandmother only watches the news, sports, Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune so we weren't too far down the cable long tail.  Most of you probably have Tivo (or DVR) and speed past these locally made commercials - or all commercials. The commercial was reminiscent of one from local car dealers.

Anyway, I couldn't believe that they were advertising coupons on cell phones. I went to their web site, and there was a promotion to join Dahl's Mobile Club. I clicked on the link and was taken to a local radio/TV station web site that read more like a news site sponsored by Dahl's. A banner ad on that page took me to a page where I could enter my phone number and carrier. They advised me that I would receive about one text message per week with a special offer.

The coupons are being powered by Vesta Mobile Solutions.  They are based in Baltimore, MD so Dahl's 12 locations in central Iowa are a bit far from home. I'm definitely curious to hear how mobile coupons are going for Dahl's. With the adoption rate so low overall, one doesn't typically imagine much uptake - if Dahl's has numbers anywhere near the national average, their real numbers would be small. However, they are advertising on TV - first I've seen so hopefully this is driving higher adoption levels for them. That is a higher level of commitment than we see from most implementing mobile coupons -

Despite the availability of multiple backup appliances supporting deduplication, Data Domain has continued to win customers at a steady pace. As of March 2009, the company had more than 2,900 customers and recruited hundreds of value added resellers. Its proven deduplication technology, integrated replication, and aggressive campaign to eliminate tape garnered it a tremendous amount of mind share and put it on most customers’ short lists. So it comes as no surprise that they were acquired by a major storage vendor.

That it was acquired by NetApp does come as a bit of surprise. NetApp does have its own successful VTL that supports deduplication. But then again, NetApp didn’t introduced deduplication in its VTL until the Fall of 2008 (the last of the major storage vendors to do so) and it typically sells its VTL into its own customer base. With Data Domain, NetApp now owns one of the toughest competitors in the backup appliance market and it gives the company a system that it (and the hundreds of NetApp channel partners around the globe) can sell into non-NetApp environments.

Jeff McKenna's role in the history of Agile is as long as it is deep.
This week on the Heretech podcast, Jeff and I talk about Agile adoption in the technology industry, and why
Agile is much more than just a process.

[Posted by Laura Ramos]