The problem with a really, really great idea is that nobody quite knows quite what to do with it.

Take television, for example.  Here’s a quote from TIME Magazine, Feb 22, 1926:

“In London, a concern called Television Ltd. obtained licenses to retail the ‘televisor,’ a radio device invented by John L. Baird of Glasgow that permits ‘looking in’ as well as listening in. Broadcasting from a televisor station in London was to begin at once.“

The television.  The device so many of us can’t live without today.  The device many people spend hours in front of each day.  But when it was first invented, many people didn’t know what to make of it.  ”A radio with pictures?”  In fact, early television shows mainly consisted of a newscaster sitting in front of the camera, reading a script.  It was basically just that: Radio, with pictures.  Nobody had figured out how to take advantage of this new medium.

Contrast that with television today:

We’ve probably gone about 98% up on the value curve in terms of exploiting the television medium.  It’s doubtful we’ll see any major innovations until the technology changes again (3-D TV’s, etc).

PointAbout is in the same position as TV was in the 1930’s.

What we are enabling by mobilizing brands is an entirely new channel of communication between the user and the brand.

For the first time, a company’s website knows exactly who and where the user is the moment they go to the site.

That’s a really big deal.

For example, when you walk into a Walmart today, you don’t visit Walmart.com as you’re walking in – there’s no reason to do so.  It wouldn’t make sense.

But what if Walmart.com wasn’t the main corporate site, but instead it was a site that was personalized and individualized for YOU.  What if, when you were near or in the store, you could interact with your phone to find out whether Walmart had something in stock, or heck for that matter, what if Walmart could invite you to come into the store because Walmart knew you were nearby and knew that you needed to buy toothpaste.

What if, in fact, your phone reminded you that you needed to buy toothpaste.  What if you had forgotten, but Walmart was telling you because you were in the neighborhood?  ”Why not stop in while you’re nearby, after all, you’re right around the corner.”

These ideas are really just scratching the surface of what’s possible with PointAbout.  The web has been blind, but we give it vision.  So for the first time, the web can see you, and see where you are and interact with you on a very personalized level.  And I’m confident that we haven’t even started to figure out how to take advantage of it all.  But if there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that the PointAbout crew will be helping brands figure it out.