By Andy McCue, 1 October 2007 11:36
NEWS
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.
Wireless from A to Z
Click on the links below to find out moreĀ
A is for Antivirus
B is for Bluetooth
C is for The Cloud
D is for dotMobi
E is for Email
F is for FMC
G is for GPS
H is for HSDPA
I is for i-mode
J is for Japan Air
K is for Korea
L is for LBS
M is for M2M
N is for NFC
O is for Operating systems
P is for Pubs
Q is for QoS
R is for Roaming
S is for Satellite
T is for TV
U is for UMTS
V is for Virgin
W is for WiMax
X is for XDA
Y is for Yucca
Z is for Zigbee
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."
Comments
There are 2 comments. Join the discussion
1. Karen Challinor
thank the lord they've dropped this plan
"The promotional messages also encourage recipients to go inside the branch for more information."
personally after I'd received a few of these unsolicited spam messages I'd be more tempted to throw a brick through the window and tell them where to go
2. Jay C
if HSBC did it, everyone would.
to the last comment: its not unsolicited, as you have the choice to receive the message, but we wouldn't want to sift through several stores' promo invites.