In last September I had already written about how smartphones and mobile applications are gaining momentum. Today, I am ready to risk to say that mobile as a device and as a communication channel and platform became integral part of our life. It is also clear, due to the popularity of tablets (e.g. iPad), we are using them more-and-more and they will be more popular than desktop PCs.
In the last 3 years we have seen icredible shift in how we spend our free time. At the moment in the US consumers spend more time with desktop media, but it is a question of time when smartphones and tablets will replace PCs. Forrester research claims that US adults' 48% are "super connected", which means at least once a week they use internet via their mobile internet.
TaylorMade has just launched a special iPhone application last week. I think it is moving beyond of an average golf mobile application. This mobile application with its features are in line with today empowered customers' high expectation in personalization of products and services through timely and preferred channels. TaylorMade Golf R1 tuning application enable us to customize our new R1 driver (they assume we have already bought the R1 driver) on the fly in the driving range. We can fix or create our shot shape with the help of the application. Here comes the twist, the commercial part. They hint very softly to visit our retailer if you need some more help. This can be a great opportunity to sell more. Last but not least you can share your performance on Facebook a Twitter. What a vanity!
I think the major challenges will be:
- how many people will find TayalorMade Golf R1 tuning application in iTunes?
- how many people will download it?
- will golfers find it easy to use?
- will this application appeal to sufficient number of golfers (with high customer value)?
- how can TaylorMade adapt this application to their different golf clubs in a cost effective way? Isn't it too product specific?
I am less worried about the second question, as I see this promising trend:
Finally, here is the demo of R1 driver tuning application: