Applications open to join the Tesco Freeview Broadcast experiment

If you would like to join Tesco.com R&D in testing content and applications we'll be sending to 'Channel Zero'-enabled Freeview boxes, then please apply below.

You may also optionally apply to receive one of 20 Technika Freeview HD set-top boxes that the Tesco Electricals team have kindly given me to hand out as part of the experiment and which you can keep for free afterwards. I'll offer them out BUT I want each box pointing to a different transmitter so experimenters receiving the box will be spread around the UK. You must apply to join the experiment before 11:59pm on 14th November 2010 if you wish to try and receive one of the set-top boxes.

For more info and to apply, go to my secure (but geeky and functional rather than beautiful) web form on our techfortesco.com R&D server: http://www.techfortesco.com/freeview  - all I need is your name, postcode and email address to contact you on.

Anyone inside or outside of Tesco can apply to join the experiment, as long as you get a good Freeview signal from a main service TV transmitter (not a relay). See my original article for more info.

Ribot have taught us the art of Simple.

It's mid-afternoon on a Saturday, and my copy of Tweetdeck is on the screen displaying my favourite filtered Twitter feeds. As you can imagine I have a column filtering "tesco iphone app" and I have to admit I'm enjoying the very many positive comments coming from 'the real world'.

The team at Ribot are enjoying it too. Given that they designed and built the Tesco Groceries for iPhone app, their enjoyment at watching this very real feedback is even greater than mine (click here and you'll see what I mean).

Ribot haven't finished with us yet, though. Their mobile expertise is affecting our thinking and what it means to actually make the customer's experience better by simplifying it.

It's a similar story for Tesco Finder - now customers can get directly to the set of products they are looking for and ignore the cacophony of presentation surrounding them. Indeed I'm beginning to identify a new demographic of customer who has avoided big Tesco stores (particularly unfamiliar ones) in the past because they think it would take too long to find what they are looking for, so don't even attempt to visit.

Teso Finder simplifies the journey to the product by enabling the customer to only look out for the navigation landmarks to get there (such as aisle number signs) and avoid the rest of the information hubbub. This new demographic of customer is now entering our doors - and together customers are using the app to find products at their chosen store at the rate of up to 5 requests a second according to Tesco Finder's server logs.

Now a confirmation message has come down from the very top of Tesco that we must start work soon to join Tesco Groceries and Tesco Finder together into a single app.

This means that in our work pipeline is your simple guide to Tesco groceries on your smart phone whether in-store, at-home or out-and-about - because, as Ribot have taught us: simpler mean better.

Missing products and delivery slots on Tesco Groceries for iPhone / Nokia

I don’t get any products, favourites or delivery slots when I use my iPhone or Nokia app - what’s wrong?

If you get this problem, it means is that your grocery account is set to an ‘accessiblity’ profile. In order to make your account work with the app it needs to be displayed in ‘standard’ profile.

Changing your profile is easy but you do need to go to our web site and make a change to one of the settings. Follow these instructions:

1. Login to your grocery account at http://www.tesco.com/groceries
   
2. Click on ‘My Account’.
   
3. Scroll down the screen and click on “Accessibility options”.
   
4. Now you will see “Use access site” next to a checkbox with a tick in it – uncheck the box.
   
5. Click the “Confirm” button and wait for the page that appears saying “Your changes have been successfully updated”.
   
6. Finally click “Logout” at the bottom of the screen. Your account will now be displayed in ‘standard’ profile.
   

Your account should now be compatible with your Tesco Groceries iPhone and Nokia apps. If you still have problems when you have performed these actions, please give our customer service centre a call on 0845 6756999.

We are working to ensure that customers won’t have to do this in the future but for now, following the instructions above will make your account and app work together successfully.

Android! Android! Android! Message Received!

AND...

those of you not filling my email and blog comments with barcode scanner questions, it's Android.

Curse my transparency - hold onto your hat as you read this message from B0lty:

Why haven't you included a barcode scanner? More like why haven't you included a Tesco Android app?

I find it flabbergasting that so many leading UK businesses seem to ignore or lag behind in developing for the Android OS. It's like they're oblivious to Android. You'd be a very short-sighted company indeed to ignore the phenomenal growth in the Android userbase.

It's well recognised that Android will eclipse iPhone next year for number of users. App usage will go through the roof as affordable smartphones hit the market. With Ocado sitting pretty with their app, Tesco really should be feeling a little nervous right now.

Anyway, it's back to my Ocado app right now. Ta ta Tesco.

We have heard you; we are on the case! The production mobile team we have put together is getting stuck in. On the other hand we're not going to rush something out. Whatever we do for Android will be gorgeous on Android and we won't release it until it is.

It starts with me - I am ONLY using a Google Nexus One with Android 2.2 installed from now on. My beautiful beloved iPhone is now the possession of my very happy husband and I have vowed not to touch it beyond using it for testing updates to our iPhone apps (and placing grocery orders) until something from Tesco appears for Android.

I'll stay true to my word - those of you coming to see me on business can ask me to show you my phone and prove to you when I last used it by showing the 'call log' screen (the phone is often glued to my ear).

You want Tesco apps on Android!
Message received!

Tesco Groceries for iPhone - #1 Lifestyle App and in top 10 for iTunes UK

Thanks to all of you who have downloaded our Tesco Groceries for iPhone application.

The app is achieving a continuous top 10 position in iTunes for 'most downloaded free app' (it's at No. 5 right now) and is No.1 in the 'Lifestyle" category in the time period since it launched last Thursday.

Of course downloads aren't everything - we'll be monitoring usage to see what customers use / avoid / love / hate about the application and tune it up appropriately.

Feedback pretty good too. Oh, indulge me:

Downloaded it on 3G in sainsburys and went on to do shopping from tesco first time login no problem favourites loaded no problem 86 item order done and confirmed in 12 minutes well done Tesco.

Visit the "Tesco Mobile Apps Portal" web site

We've just launched our mobile applications portal web site.

The site has essential information about all our applications and it will grow to become your complete guide to our mobile apps, with all kinds of support facilities too.

http://www.tesco.com/apps

Multiple mobile users can add to the same Tesco.com grocery order

A great question has come from @sitereport on Twitter:

Can multiple iPhone users add items to the same order?

Technically, as long as the users are logged in to the same account, then yes you can add to the same order (or change quantities or remove the item).

Indeed, this can be a mix of anyone on the iPhone app, the Nokia app, and the web site - each keeps the others up to date.

I say 'technically' because if someone checks out an order, the basket is emptied ready for the next order and other users on the same account are not alerted to this unless they tap the 'basket' button which causes the app to ask our servers what the current basket status is.

Always check the basket contents regularly before adding items if you know someone else is likely to be doing the same thing.

One Million Tesco Apps Downloaded

Computer Weekly, one of my favourite reads, has as exceeded even their own excellent forecasting abilities.

In their article Tesco Finder app reaches 1m downloads published yesterday, they reinterpreted my blog entry of Friday which spoke of the number of Tesco Finder requests reaching one million, rather than app downloads reaching one million.

Given that Tesco Groceries for iPhone is about to launch, I thought I'd compile the actual total count of downloads of all the other mobile apps we have out there on iPhone, Blackbery and Nokia stores.

We have six currently which are (in order of launch) Tesco Finder for iPhone/iPod Touch, Tesco Wine Finder for iPhone, Tesco Clubcard for iPhone/iPod Touch, Blackberry Clubcard, Nokia Clubcard, and Nokia Groceries.

Colleagues are used to my generally happy demeanour but even they weren't quite ready for the"OHHHH...YEESSSSS!!!!!" and waving of hands that came from somewhere within me.

You see, appearing on the screen was a number. It said:

1,081,555

One million downloads. One million Tesco apps in the hands of our customers. And that's before Tesco Groceries for iPhone has launched.

Er, wow!
(and thanks for the heads-up, CW!)

Credit where credit's due: well done Ocado!

Last week our grocery home shopping competitor Ocado won the BT Retail Week Technology Award for their iPhone and Android Ocado on the Go apps.

The two applications are excellent examples of applying technology appropriately for the customer's benefit - making the process of grocery shopping easier and more convenient.

I'm sure our forthcoming grocery apps will be worthy competition. Indeed if we can even do half as well as Ocado's claim that 5% of orders are made through their apps, then we we will be more than happy.

So take a bow, dear competitor, and let's see how well we do alongside you when we launch our grocery apps in another month or so. After all, with both of us raising our game in the world of mobile we both know who will benefit the most: Our customers!

I've talked about our forthcoming launch months for our grocery apps fairly openly. Isn't there a danger that our other online competitors, Asda and Sainsburys, might launch their own grocery apps ahead of us? My honest answer is: Let them! We want our offerings to be a real step change in the customer experience and, to answer the question, "Do you want it 'right' or 'now'?" we just want it to be perfectly right. I think our designers have done us proud with their thinking, and we just want to be sure with our test users.

We lost the 'First' trophy to Ocado. So we're going relentlessly after 'Best'.