Simon Schoeters
<p>Last week a friend ordered a <a href="http://www.doyoupoken.com/" title="A Poken is a token used to exchange contact information" class="ext">Poken</a> for me as a present. This triggered a discussion over business cards and why we still use plain old paper cards in this digital age.</p>
<p>The problem is an old one: how do you keep in touch with people you recently met? You need some way to exchange personal information in an easy, unobtrusive way. Business cards are a great answer to that problem: it's fast to exchange, cheap enough to hand out, universally accepted and portable. That's great but isn't it a waste of resources to print something digital on a piece of paper and have someone on the other side input the data in a system... again? Not to mention the errors this process generates: how do I interpret a Japanese address, is it his first- or last name, I would like a photo as well, have I met this person before?</p>
<h3>Pokens and E</h3>
<p>Filip argued that Pokens or <a href="http://mynameise.com/" title="E is a service that integrates all your existing social services into an E-ID" class="ext">E</a> could be the answer. Pokens are small plastic <abbr title="Radio-frequency identification">RFID</abbr> readers. High five your Poken against another one to exchange your details and the next time you log on to your social network sites your profiles will be linked. E uses the same idea but focuses on the software side: you can create multiple profiles and exchange details via an internet-enabled mobile phone. They have an RFID device - called ‘Conntector’ - in the pipeline.</p>
<p>While these services look promising I don't think it will be the answer. Sure, these things are focused on social networking profiles and may be just fine for their target audience but that won't cut it. Why not? </p>
<ol>
<li>The other person needs the same service. Do you have a Poken? Or maybe you use E? It's too much of a hassle and you will look stupid in non geeky situations... so you'll just hand out your plain old business card.</li>
<li>The device. I suppose a Blackberry could easily exchange a vCard over Bluetooth with all you contact details, yet, no one uses it. Is it too technical? Handing out a business card needs to be as simple as possible. With E you need an ‘internet-enabled’ device, how does that hold when you are abroad?</li>
<li>Backward compatibility. I still need my printed business cards as failsafe measure. Why do I need 2 systems? Right, I'll only take the cards, it's just the safer option.</li>
<li>Personalization. A business card is something unique, it's a way to express yourself (or your company). A plumber's business card looks different than the card from a graphic designer. Does it look professional, clean or playful?</li>
</ol>
<h3>Disposable RFID business cards</h3>
<p>My shot for a possible solution: the disposable RFID business card. It still needs a flashy name and ditto logo but here is the idea: combine the old business card with RFID. What if we would embed an RFID chip in a plain old business card?</p>
<ol>
<li>Service independent. The RFID could link to a universally accepted standard (e.g. a vCard on your website). You could even think of a subscription system that automatically updates your contact's details when they change.</li>
<li>Device independent. If my phone has an RFID reader I could scan the card to add it to my phone's address book immediately, if not, I keep the card and scan it later.</li>
<li>Backward compatible. If you don't have an RFID reader you can use the card as you would today. This would be useful starting from day one. With a Poken you need a “critical mass” first.</li>
<li>Personalization. You can still design the card as you see fit.</li>
<li>Digital format. Even a Japanese address would be entered correctly as I don't need to guess which information is where, we moved this to the software now.</li>
</ol>
<p>What do we need? I'm not sure but maybe RFID tags are still too expensive to throw away? With prices around <a href="http://www.barcoding.com/faq/rfid-tag-cost.shtml" title="How much does an RFID tag cost?" class="ext">$0.50</a> it's still a little too expensive if you add the price of the business card. RFID chips are designed to be thrown away (look at packaging) so I suppose prices will drop. People also need an RFID reader but that's just a matter of time. More and more companies start providing RFID readers: <a href="http://www.violet.net/_mirror-give-powers-to-your-objects.html" title="The Violet mir:ror, a RFID reader" class="ext">Violet</a> and <a href="http://www.tikitag.com/" title="Alcatel-Lucent backed tikitag sells RFID tags and readers" class="ext">tikitag</a> amongst them.</p>
<p>What do you think? Will we replace business cards in the near future and if so, how will it successor look like?</p>
<h3>Read more</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://artofmanliness.com/2008/09/07/the-gentlemans-guide-to-the-calling-card" title="The Gentleman's Guide to the Calling Card" class="ext">The Gentleman's Guide to the Calling Card</a> explains the origin of the first business cards.</li>
</ul>
2009-01-19T11:38:09+01:00
47
8
future-of-business-cards
The future of business cards
2009-01-19T11:38:41+01:00
Simon Schoeters
<div class="hreview">
<p class="item"><span class="fn">Sharecard</span> is a €1.59 app from <a href="http://www.doseido.com/products/sharecard" title="Sharecard product page @ Doseido" class="url ext">Doseido</a> that sends an iPhone contact in vCard format by mail. I browsed around on the App Store for a way to easily share my contact information when I meet someone. My requirements: fast, efficient, easy to use and a polished <abbr title="User Interface">UI</abbr> is a plus.</p>
<div class="description">
<p>I couldn't find a free app to send vCards and choose Sharecard for it's good looking UI. Yes, I know, the iPhone <abbr title="Operating System">OS</abbr> 3.0 should do this out-of-the-box, fingers crossed. With Sharecard you can choose to include your name, organization, e-mail, phone, address and/or chat information in the vCard. I played with the application and sent some feedback to the author. The next release fixed some – not all – of my remarks. Here are a few things I'm still missing:</p>
<ul>
<li>The mail will be send from a Doseido mail address. To me this feels like sleek advertising from the developer. It would be acceptable for a free app but for a paid app I expect it to use my own e-mail address (idem for the subject field, or the ad link at the bottom). It also makes the mail more obscure for the guy receiving my vCard, not to mention spam filters.</li>
<li>Notes are not included in the card. This is a pity as I use this field to add all the missing data (eg. my Skype or bank account).</li>
<li>The company name is replaced by <samp>(null)</samp> when no company name is given, this should be an empty field.</li>
<li>The contact photo is not included, now, I know from my own experience that this is hard to do so I shouldn't be too picky about this one.</li>
<li>The type of both the phone number and e-mail address is wrong, the vCard source shows <samp>type=TERNET</samp> and <samp>type=bile</samp>.</li>
<li>All my phone numbers are prefixed with the country code (eg. +32 for Belgium) but Sharecard removes the plus sign, making the phone number unusable.</li>
</ul>
<p>Let's wait for the next iPhone OS update. It'll include contact sharing out-of-the-box, making applications like Sharecard <abbr class="rating" title="1">superfluous</abbr>.</p>
</div>
<h3>Related</h3>
<ul>
<li>“<a href="/blog/future-of-business-cards" title="My business card concept blog post">The future of business cards</a>”, my view on business cards with <abbr title="Radio-Frequency IDentification">RFID</abbr>.</li>
</ul>
<div class="hidden">
<span class="summary">Sharcard, vCard mailer for iPhone</span>
<abbr title="2004-03-31T20:00" class="dtreviewed">Mar 31, 2004</abbr>
<span class="reviewer vcard"><span class="fn">Simon Schoeters</span></span>
<span class="type">product</span>
<span class="version">0.3</span>
</div>
</div>
2009-03-31T17:57:21+02:00
53
8
sharecard-review
Sharecard for iPhone
2009-03-31T17:57:21+02:00