Location-Based Service To Integrate With Three-Day Music Festival#
2011 Strawberry Music Festival
Running from April 30-May 2 at the Tongzhou Canal Park, the third annual Strawberry Music Festival will present three days of non-stop music from hundreds of Chinese and international groups. Unlike its last two incarnations, this year's Strawberry Music Festival will also be held simultaneously in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, making it, according to the Chinese-language news portal Hexun, by far the largest festival yet.
The Suzhou "annex" isn't the only change we'll see this year, though. Fresh off the heels of its recent partnership with Burberry, Jiepang, the Chinese answer to location-based service Foursquare, will join together with the Strawberry Music Festival to promote Jiepang's newly launched NFC (Near Field Communication) function.
According to TechNode, NFC is a wireless technology that triggers a response when a device is held at close range (typically less than 4cm) from a sensor. In the case of Jiepang's NFC function, at the Strawberry Music Festival, when one's mobile phone is held up to a sensor, the user will automatically "check in," unlocking virtual badges and special promotions. From TechNode:
Larry Kuok, Jiepang’s Director of New Business and head of Jiepang’s NFC R&D demonstrated the function by swiping his phone against a sensor. It automatically checked him in and sent him a message saying, “Cool! – Congrats on being an early adopter! – You are checking in with Jiepang using NFC at Tiny Salt Coffee Club. We hope you have a great time using Jiepang.” This definitely has the benefits of speed and simplicity.
Jiepang will officially launch its NFC technology at the 2011 Strawberry Music Festival
As the exclusive LBS (Location-Based Service) partner of the Strawberry Music Festival in Beijing, Jiepang will set up an demonstration booth and distribute about 1,500 Jiepang mobile phone tags and key chains with NFC chips attached.
Additionally, attendees who obtain Jiepang's virtual badge via checking in at different booths at the music festival will enjoy benefits from Beijing spots like Tiny Salt Coffee Club, School Bar, Two Good Friends, Mao Livehouse and the One Club.
Currently, Jiepang is the only LBS in China to take advantage of NFC technology, according to TechNode. However, with the formal launch of Jiepang's NFC service, and the speed at which Chinese competitors are able to clone rival technologies, we can expect that the country's many other LBS players, such as Sifang (玩转四方), Zai Nar (立方网), Bedo (贝多) and Dian Ping (大众点评), may soon follow suit.