HSBC drops mobile Bluetooth ad plans

HSBC has dropped plans to send advertising messages using Bluetooth technology to the mobile phones of people passing the bank's branches.

The bank ran a trial of the technology earlier this year at its Regent Street and Canary Wharf branches in London. The system works by using a small box inside the branch that scans mobile phones to detect those with Bluetooth enabled.

When a Bluetooth-enabled phone is in range, the box sends a message asking if the user is happy to receive a promotional message from the bank. If they reply 'yes' the message is sent to their phone. The promotional messages also encourage recipients to go inside the branch for more information.

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The HSBC trial ran from the start of this year to the end of April. The bank ran the test with a view to extending the technology to other branches in the future and said the reaction from people who received the promotional messages had generally been positive.

But after fully evaluating the results of the Bluetooth ad trial, HSBC said it has no plans to deploy the technology.

An HSBC spokesman told silicon.com: "We did look at the results and it is not being taken forward. It didn't prove commercially viable."