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In a UK first, Reading’s bus shelters and poster sites will be going interactive - allowing people to download information, offers and games with a swipe of their smartphone.
People in the town are being asked to ‘get ready to interact,’ as from March 5, bus shelters across the town and poster sites in the Oracle Shopping Mall, will become Near Field Communication (NFC) and Quick Response Code (QR) enabled.
This means that shoppers and travellers on the town’s buses will get the chance to download all sorts of special offers, vouchers, games and music – at the same time as waiting for the bus or having a break from the shops.
The NFC system works on the same principle as the London Underground Oyster Card System. It’s a contactless technology which uses radiowaves to connect NFC-enabled smartphones, to ‘smart posters.’ NFC is seen as the ‘next big thing’ in interactive communications. The QR Codes will bring the same exciting benefits to people with non-NFC smartphones, once they download a QR Code APP to their phone.
Reading is the first town to have all its bus shelters made interactive and, with the all the posters in the Oracle also enabled, it will mean 325 ‘Touchpoints’ in total.
Reading shoppers will be able to access exclusive video content of DVDs, preview TV shows, get discount vouchers and enter competitions – with content being updated regularly.
The bus shelter company behind the new venture has chosen Reading because they see it is a place with a profile that loves to use new technology.
David McEvoy, Marketing Director of JCDecaux said: “We couldn’t think of a more perfect place to launch this exciting new service than in the vibrant town of Reading. Our research shows that Reading is one of the most tech-savvy towns in the UK with a higher number of mobile phone and smartphone owners than the rest of the country.
This puts Reading at the forefront of interactivity at bus shelters and so we really hope people will try it out and enjoy accessing the entertainment and special offers available through their smartphone.”