I had the chance to chat via email with Jordan Crook from Mobile Marketer earlier this week about Scanaroo, our loyalty card app for the iPhone.
Here's a link to Jordan's side of the story, which I think was pretty-much spot on.
The key graf:
transformational technology that fundamentally alters the
customer/vendor relationship, which is currently predominantly
one-sided on the side of the vendor"
This is really the foundation of why we built the app, and it derives directly from Doc's drive (wow, that's a lot of alliteration) with ProjectVRM, which has a stated goal of creating "tools of independence and engagement" for the customer side of the business relationship.
That said, Crook really grokked that what we're trying to do with Scanaroo provides a benefit for both parties.
I saw this tweet today from @FitMenu which said "I've turned down loyalty programs to avoid that one more thing to carry," and Crook noted that "often times, loyalty cards, gift cards and membership cards are not used on a daily basis," which is exactly right, because it's currently a hot pain to carry them all around. So, the retailers win, too, by always having the opportunity to have their card easily available.
Related:
Cerado Launches Loyalty Card Organization App (Mobile Marketer)
Scanaroo web site (http://scanaroo.com)