Ferrari Australasia is changing its consumers’ showroom visits with an augmented reality application that allows immediate customization and an in-depth look at the vehicles. Consumers will be able to see the car in a specific color, with certain rims and more options that complete the new showroom walkaround. Integrating digital into a showroom allows frontline sales people from Ferrari to provide more detailed information and connect with consumers through more mediums.

Expedia’s latest update to its mobile application focuses on better meeting the needs of last-minute travelers – an important and growing group on mobile – by enabling them to book a car rental and find a nearby hotel deal for that day on the launch screen. Travel is one of the more popular categories on mobile because travelers are, by their nature, on-the-go and in need of information such as where to rent a car, what nearby hotels have rooms available and where to find something to eat – information that can be easily accessed from a smartphone. Expedia, a …

There's a robot lawn mower saga in the offing at the FCC, and the outcome may have a big impact on the future of automated lawn care in the U.S. In January, iRobot requested an FCC waiver to a rule that "prohibits the use of fixed wireless infrastructure, in order to obtain equipment certification for and market a robotic lawn mower." On March 6, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) filed comments with the FCC objecting to the waiver. Here's the issue: The NRAO operates three radio telescopes in the U.S. that listen to the heavens, observing frequencies around 6.7 GHz (the NRAO also operates the Atacama Large …

Developing nations like India are increasingly moving towards digital wallets. A noteworthy example here is that of Paytm, one of the leading digital wallets in India. The company is poised to revolutionize payments and commerce in India and recently declared that it has reached 50 million users. Moreover, Paytm now feels confident that it can now grow this number further to 100 million by the end of this year. Paytm is also planning to spend over $80 million towards marketing and branding efforts. Earlier this year, Paytm raised a massive $575 million from the e-commerce giant Alibaba and its payments arm, Alipay. …

Los Angeles’ mixed-use building, TenTen Wilshire, is making its affluent tenants’ stay comfortable through increased concierge services available via a mobile application. TenTen Wilshire, located on Los Angeles’ historic Wilshire Boulevard, is summarized as “the perfect place to live, work and play” due to its mixed-use concept of fully furnished apartments and office space, available for long- and short-stays. The app, available for tenants, enhances their stay by offering the amenities of a traditional hotel through mobile touchpoints.

Lancome, Sephora Collection and Make Up For Ever are among the cosmetics brands featured in FaceCake Marketing Technologies’ new cosmetic color search mobile application, ShadeScout, suggesting that top makeup marketers can integrate with search-related apps to reach more consumers. The ShadeScout application enables consumers to look for beauty products in their favorite colors via augmented reality options, Virtual Try-On features and built-in purchase solutions. As the cosmetics sector continues to grow more intertwined with mobile, consumers are increasingly looking for convenient ways of virtually trying products and easily finding items worn by their friends or style mavens.

Mobile payments are likely to gain momentum with the inevitable expansion of Apple Pay. Though Apple has not yet brought its newmobile payments service to markets outside of the United States, the early success of the service makes it likely that expansion is in the future. Europe is one of the most attractive mobile markets in the world, with high smartphone penetration and an expansive mobile Internet infrastructure. Consumers in many European countries are using their devices to purchase products. In preparation for Apple Pay’s potential expansion to Europe, many companies are beginning to improve their own mobile services. A new …

Coca-Cola is leveraging mcommerce to make it easy to order a customized bottle of Coke bearing a name in place of the brand’s logo and have it delivered, marking the return of last year’s successful Share a Coke program. Using the mobile-optimizedShare a Coke Web site, consumers create a virtual bottle of Coke bearing their own name and share it with friends. Or, for $5 a bottle plus shipping costs, consumers can have a customized bottle sent to their homes. 

A Forrester Research analyst at the company’s Forum for Marketing Leaders said that by identifying and influencing key decisions customers make regularly, brands can use digital and mobile marketing to reduce decision-making stress rather than coerce transactions. The analyst discussed marketers’ tendencies to believe that consumers will select the right option for them, despite the fact that consumers are becoming increasingly more stressed when making decisions. She claimed that digital and mobile marketing may actually worsen anxieties, unless brands specifically market to reduce stress and showcase the best specific products and services for a consumer, a tactic which will streamline the shopping …

Today Foursquare raised the curtain on Pinpoint, a new advertising platform that will enable brands to target Foursquare users (and even non-Foursquare users) based on where they’ve been. The platform isn’t limited to Foursquare’s apps, however. Foursquare says it plans to sell ads across a “verified ecosystem of apps, exchanges and publishers” — at the moment, we’re not entirely sure how far that definition reaches, but it’s clear that Foursquare plans to partner with third parties to bolster the location dataset it already has. Here’s what we do know, based on the initiative’s launch site.