Tap: Unlocking the Mobile Economy (MIT Press)

Consumers create a data trail by tapping their phones; businesses can tap into this trail to harness the power of the more than three trillion dollar mobile economy. According to Anindya Ghose, a global authority on the mobile economy, this two-way exchange can benefit both customers and businesses. In Tap, Ghose welcomes us to the mobile economy of smartphones, smarter companies, and value-seeking consumers.

Drawing on his extensive research in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and on a variety of real-world examples from companies including Alibaba, China Mobile, Coke, Facebook, SK Telecom, Telefónica, and Travelocity, Ghose describes some intriguingly contradictory consumer behavior: people seek spontaneity, but they are predictable; they find advertising annoying, but they fear missing out; they value their privacy, but they increasingly use personal data as currency. When mobile advertising is done well, Ghose argues, the smartphone plays the role of a personal concierge -- a butler, not a stalker.

Ghose identifies nine forces that shape consumer behavior, including time, crowdedness, trajectory, and weather, and he examines these how these forces operate, separately and in combination. With Tap, he highlights the true influence mobile wields over shoppers, the behavioral and economic motivations behind that influence, and the lucrative opportunities it represents. In a world of artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, wearable technologies, smart homes, and the Internet of Things, the future of the mobile economy seems limitless.

消費者透過觸碰手機來創造數據軌跡；企業可以利用這些軌跡來發揮超過三萬億美元的移動經濟力量。根據對移動經濟的全球權威Anindya Ghose的說法，這種雙向交流可以使顧客和企業都受益。在《Tap》一書中，Ghose帶領我們進入智能手機、智慧企業和追求價值的消費者所構成的移動經濟。

Ghose根據他在美國、歐洲和亞洲的廣泛研究，以及包括阿里巴巴、中國移動、可口可樂、Facebook、SK Telecom、Telefónica和Travelocity在內的各種實際案例，描述了一些有趣的矛盾消費者行為：人們追求即興，但他們是可預測的；他們覺得廣告煩人，但又害怕錯過；他們重視隱私，但越來越多地將個人數據用作貨幣。Ghose認為，當移動廣告做得好時，智能手機扮演的是個人管家的角色，而不是跟蹤者。

Ghose確定了九個影響消費者行為的力量，包括時間、擁擠、軌跡和天氣，並探討了這些力量如何分別和結合起來運作。通過《Tap》，他突顯了移動對購物者的真正影響力，以及這種影響力背後的行為和經濟動機，以及它所代表的利潤機會。在人工智能、擴增和虛擬現實、可穿戴技術、智能家居和物聯網的世界中，移動經濟的未來似乎是無限的。