Market is evolving very rapidly in recent times. Now it is possible to buy on the web in a comfortable and safe way, even being far away from your PC. The traditional mean of e-commerce, the PC, is losing importance and is being substituted by other and more new systems initially born with very different purposes than the one of e-commerce. Mobile phones are an example that clearly explains this transformation: thanks to new applications and to the mobile internet users are now able to make purchases in total security without having to be sitting at their desks. But the self-phone is not the only new player in the new world of e-commerce. It seems that in this domain are taking space players that initially seemed to have adopted a low profile in this field: the game console. Microsoft has developed and is ready to launch (scheduled launch November 4th 2010) its new system for its Xbox 360 console: The system Kinect. This plug-in will change radically the xbox console and will provide a gaming experience that goes far beyond that which we were traditionally used to. The concept is clear: absence of a controller to guarantee complete freedom of movement and interaction. Thus there will be no need for sensors (like the ones of Wii for example) to interact with the console: everything is managed by a camera RGB, infrared depth sensor, microphone array and multiple processor ASIP. Kinect can recognize your voice, movements and even facial expressions. The gaming applications seem to be different and very interesting for fans of the genre. However, an application can be found also in business opportunities. That has been evident in the first video presentation of Kinect where it was shown that it was possible to engage an e-shopping experience directly from your living room: the camera will recognize your profile, the system will propose on the screen your 3D avatar and will let you to interact with the object you are interested into through your virtual alter-ego and even buy it. This is to overcome the traditional barrier posed by a computer screen! Do you want to add more realism? Imagine what could happen by exploiting the potentials of new 3D screens: what movies like “Minority Report” showed us, could become reality. But back to reality… Currently the plug-in Kinect only works with a package of six games developed by Microsoft. The expected price in Europe will be approximately of 150 euros.

The role of apps for firms’ business is becoming more and more relevant. Already several firms have developed their proprietary app to sell goods and services through the use of Mobile Phone. Pizza Hut developed its personal application for iPhone trying not only to create a new distribution channel for its customer, but also is trying to build a new experience while ordering a pizza. On what it focuses? On fun!! Here there is the link of what they developed for iPhone users. This can be thought as a first experimentation of app that cares not only to sell a product, but that also tries to engage the customer as an active part of the ordering process. With this app the customer becomes himself for a moment the chef of his own dish and has a large variety of instrument to make in a literal way his own delicious pizza.  As someone told “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind!”.