Lausanne, Switzerland, July 21st, 2011. Poken is announcing today the launch of a new generation of touch-based products and solutions. The company is evolving from a “social business card” into an end-to-end NFC-compliant platform that enables users to collect digital information offline, and share it in the most simple and effective way. The release includes significant updates for the pokenSPARK and pokenPULSE, introduction of an all new pokenTAG, and the official launch of pokenMOBILE.

With free downloadable mobile apps and 1 million devices sold to date, Poken is used for events and loyalty programs to enhance social networking and provide efficient lead generation. Poken is now introducing new NFC-compliant versions of the ever-popular pokenSPARK and the sleek pokenPULSE. These new designs feature improved capabilities and enable anyone to collect “people, places and things” with a touch. The new NFC design enables users to collect digital files by touching an NFC-compliant pokenTAG or NFC-equipped mobile phone.

The new pokenTAG is a electronic sticker that can contain digital documents, coupons, or multimedia files. Consumers collect this media with a simple touch, using an NFC-enabled smartphone or a poken. Poken’s web-based partner tools make possible the distribution of digital media through NFC tags. The media’s owner can manage and measure its spread both from real-world collecting, as well as from spreading through user’s social networks.

The company is also launching pokenMOBILE, a mobile phone application that allows for a rich, full-featured touch-based experience. By simply touching the NFC phone to a pokenTAG, users can collect information about people, places and things, and explore it in real-time. They can instantly gather, organize and share all the content they find: a common activity online, brought into the physical world through NFC.

‘’We originally launched a basic app on the iPhone, but are now going full-feature on NFC phones such as Nokia’s C7 and N9 devices, and soon-to-come Android,” said Matthew Harris, Senior Product Manager. “By combining Poken devices, mobile apps, and tags, users are able to interact with each-other, as well as out in the community, collecting and sharing the cool things they come across.”

Poken’s new products and platform are innovative marketing tools that can help businesses generate qualified leads, design measurable loyalty programs and innovative promotional campaigns that will create an unprecedented experience for people to engage with brands.

“We’re going “all in” with NFC, and we strongly believe it’s the future of “touch-based” loyalty and payment services. However we’ve also built some useful non-NFC features into our pokenMOBILE app, allowing a user to touch their NFC-enabled phone to an older non-NFC phone — such as an iPhone 4 — to exchange contact information” said Stéphane Doutriaux, Founder & CEO. “That is a powerful differentiator in the market, and along with our Pokens, we truly bridge the gap between today, and a future where everyone will have an NFC-enabled phone”.

The new products are available for order starting today, and will be delivered to customers in bulk quantities as of October 1st.

About Poken S.A.
Poken is a suite of NFC-based devices and social networking software that enable people to collect and exchange digital information in the real world with a simple touch. The Poken suite is fully brandable and is used for events, customer loyalty programs, and more to enable efficient networking, “paperless” data collection and lead generation. With enthusiastic clients in more than 25 countries and supported by a fast-growing network of international resellers, Poken provides innovative products and services powered by proprietary NFC technologies that allow everyone to “collect people, places and things with a touch”. Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, Poken has attracted significant media attention around the world, and it has won a number of awards for technical innovation and excellence. For more information, visit www.poken.com / www.poken.co.za

For more information:

Carole Putallaz
Poken, S.A.
T: + 41 (0)21-311-0678
carole@poken.com

Jolandie Konig
Poken Africa
T: +27 79 590 9406
jolandie@poken.co.za ]]> http://www.poken.co.za/2011/07/22/poken-launches-new-touch-based-nfc-products-suite/feed/ 0 http://www.poken.co.za/2010/09/01/upcoming-events/ http://www.poken.co.za/2010/09/01/upcoming-events/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:31:26 +0000 Jolandie http://www.poken.co.za/?p=329 Spring break!

Need we say more? Look for Poken at Spring Break from 23rd September. Imagine not needing to ask that hottie for a phone number, you could just Poken! Just remember to stay in touch afterwards…

Look for us on Facebook and on Twitter as well and remember you can order your Poken online through the Facebook page!

Otherwise, look for Poken Africa at Jozi Tweetups, Heavy Chef events or 27Dinners, which we attend whenever we can, so look for us there and say hi.

Or high4 us, it’s fun and easy! All you need is a Poken…

In fact, roughly 1500 Poken were handed out to the delegates at the Leadership Summit, giving them the oppertunity to do safe, secure (and Fun!) networking, by a simple High4. This is such an obvious improvement to handing out business cards and we hope to see all of South Africa adopt this strategy in future.

Markex was immense as well and we are in fact still doing data entry of the curious and potential customers. If only the visitors had had Pokens, we could have gotten back to them by now!

Hope to see you all out there, connecting in the real world.

Meanwhile, contact us anytime!

High 4!

Not sure about the hair Walter, but thanks for the mention during your presentation!

Thanks again to terrapinn for hosting the event, well done guys! The Show was an excellent forum for anyone interested in the possibilities of the Internet. Well presented seminars kept everyone busy, although we seemed to find enough time to answer loads of questions about Poken. Remember to Contact Us if you have any more questions, we are always happy to hear from you.

Thanks also to marketing maven Walter Pike for handing out a few Poken during his standing room only presentation. Great presentation by the way, but that’s what we expect from Mr. Pike!

Congrats to Duncan Band, Account Manager at Liquid Telecom, as well as Kevin van Zanten from Innomation Design Studios, some of the happy recipients of Poken, courtesy of our lucky draw.

Kevin van Zanten with his new Gorilla Poken

Duncan Band (right) showing off his Poken

We had a nice chat about how PayPal and FNB revealing how they’re making eCommerce better with the team who made it happen and heard from a senior PayPal representative who was very excited to meet everyone there & chat about PayPal functionality in South Africa, the opportunities such functionality presents and the way forward

Words can’t describe what a wonderful opportunity and fun filled day this was,
From great refreshments and a really interesting chat, to being a part of the first group of people to ride on the Gautrain, and yes we did take our Pokens and so did everyone else there who has one!

This was all just a very wonderful experience, there very so many interesting and exciting people there, and overall it was a great crowd and a day we will always remember, as this was one of many great days for Poken still to come.

All these people now know what a Poken is and most of them already had one!

We were really proud to see so many people turn up all with their Poken, and would like to thank @RyanAGibson from Jhbtweetups and @TheGautrain for making a dream like this possible for us and all the other tweeps that were there.

Amor with another high 4 and a big smile!

We the Poken Africa team had a great time once again with some familiar faces and some new ones, but then again, that’s what Poken is all about…Meeting new people, and staying in touch!

There was a big buzz on Poken and many new people to join the world of Poken, a great night to remember.

Much fun filled evening at Mythos Greek Restaurant in Bryanston, it was our first tweet-up, and what started off as a slightly nervous evening, ended with @MarlizeV from Poken Africa standing on a table to draw the names of 3 lucky tweeps who won themselves a Poken from @PokenAfrica. After that everyone there was willing to do (almost!) anything to get their hands on one!

Everyone had a great time and all responded to Poken with great excitement.

Amor from Poken Africa demonstrating a high4

A lot of people pitched for the two-day CellC event and the friendliness all round created a great vibe. Reaction to Poken was once again intense with people showing great interest and becoming very excited at the social networking possibilities that Poken offers. The Poken team enthusiastically answered questions and shared in the general excitement!

We had a really great time, and this was only one of many still to come Poken experiences.

A rainy day turned into a day filled with sunshine, general excitement and enthusiastic participation. Hundreds of people attended and took part in the Gay Pride Parade while enjoying the live entertainment provided by Highveld Stereo. Even Barney was proud in purple!

Many people were very curious about Poken and bombarded the Poken team with questions about the functionalities of a Poken.