The exchange of information is just as important as the social interaction of actually giving/receiving the card. Don't you remember when you received an amazing business card from someone and couldn't forget that person or their card? Try that with dropcard or a poken.

We’ve tried to take the opposite approach and provide something that, above-all, delights and serves our users. Is it perfect? Not yet. Does it serve ALL possible users out there? Of course not (Check out our user breakdown). But we have learned a lot from the users of the hundreds of thousands of our devices in 30+ countries and we are incorporating every bit of it into our next generation (this summer), which includes business- and event-oriented products, mobile access, and better web services. Open standards and cool technology will always be part of our platform, but we believe that only by really focusing on the needs of users will any solution ever gain enough momentum to change the way we share identities in the real world.

I then moved into RMBRme which allows me to update my card via the web and I can send or they can "get" my card via SMS. Worked well and even included a vcard to get the data right into their contacts on handheld or computer

What we are missing is a site that has the devices to purchase, mobile apps, a web interface and also ways to always get dynamic updates to keep your contacts in sync.

Oh and the ability to specify if someone gets personal or public info and change it on the fly later.

My daughter and her friends have Pokens, as do I, my son and my spouse (she loves the alien).

The Poken is really only half of it: all your friends' contact information is stored in your account, so it becomes a great resource, an online address/social/little black book to keep all your friends' info in one place--and when they update their Poken by starting a new social networking account or opening a Skype account, for example, their ID card in your account is updated too. Nice way to keep up.

Sure, the "tipping point" argument is valid ("no one has one, so why buy one?"), but the market will sort that out. Remember when you were advised to not buy a Mac because "everyone use[d] PCs" and you "couldn't exchange files"? The market sorted that out, too.

As far as the business angle goes, I've had orders from companies who give Pokens away as swag, which serves two purposes: keeping your brand in front of a client, but also connecting with them in a way that wasn't possible before.

Basically, if your card is not working, something with your business is not working.

Add some creativity and a website that connects those reinventing with possible new employers.

Get Cards of Change.

The Unmarried Mother was a man twenty-five years old,
no taller than I am, childish features and a touchy temper. I
didn't like his looks - I never had - but he was a lad I was
here to recruit, he was my boy smart card. I gave him my smart card best barkeep's
smile.

Maybe smart card I'm too critical. He wasn't swish; smart card his nickname
came from smart card
what he always said smart card when some nosy type asked him his
line: "I'm an unmarried mother. -- If he felt less than
murderous he would add: "at four cents a word. I write
confession stories. --

If he felt nasty, he would membership card wait for someb

I hate traditional paper business cards because I always loose them. My phone is with me all of the time and I don't want to load contact info. Too tedious! Come on folks, this isn't 1980 anymore!

One thing about the old fashioned way is the nice pause as someone looks at your card, asks where you live, about your company ... etc. It engages the other person in conversation and gives you something to talk about.

time for a business model change guys.

cheers,
Dean Collins
www.Cognation.net

Like it or not, until there is no one using paper for anything, business cards will be the de facto form of exchanging contactg info.

I also think it's funny that my RSS feed reader attached an ad for some company that prints business cards to this story . . . :-D

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sorry I was going for light humour rather than snark. I guess my oblique point was that your solutions aren't as universal as the humble business card.

I take your point, if I had collected 200 business cards from a conference (and I wasn't running a draw for a free iPhone to get them), then yes, I would be grasping for an alternative too.

However, the likes of yourself and Mr Scoble aside, are there that many power socialisers out there? You need to be one to do your job as well as you do.

Maybe we are just coming at it from different angles....

And somewhere in the middle better solution might lie.

What next? Talking to people sucks! Carry a conversation making device instead!

I work in both worlds and have to deal with people who are business owners not social media guru's.

cloudcontacts bridges this gap and allows the techies of the world to import these cards into their workflow.

you have clearly missed the point of cloudcontacts.

The right way to do this is a voice print. Just say your name to your new friend's phone, that's it. Imagine OpenID/FF/FB/Plaxo/Gmail storing your voice print as part of your ID. You plug in, upload the new voice prints of your new friends and then get all the contact info needed.

You could also add the words "friend", "business", "Facebook" or whatever after your voice print, to indicate the level of intimacy permission you were giving. Of course, if you wanted to avoid giving someone your details, you'd have to fake your name or talk in a scratchy voice instead of giving a phony phone number.

You're crying about a few small piece of paper, and so you suggest a whole manufactured device made of plastic and aluminum from China? Which do you think will affect the environment and landfills more?

Paper is a renewable resource, and breaks down. Try telling me how long that just-another-extra-plastic-gizmo will break down in a landfill.

And as for Cloud Contacts and the generally snarky comment from Ronan: I see Cloud Contacts as a sign that business cards are decreasing in usefulness. Ronan: The day you go to a conference and get 200+ cards handed to you over the course of a single day, you call me (310.936.6762) and let me know how well your Rolodex is holding up, how effectively you're able to manage that information, and how you've added those people to your network in any useful way. The tools I've suggested above are for power socializers who need to keep track of hundreds or thousands of people over many different networks for different reasons.

Conferences are some of the best places to meet new people, and business cards are probably the best way to forget them.

It's big in some parts of Europe (originated in Switzerland) and becoming widely popular in Japan (disclosure: I'm the official Poken evanleglist for Japan).

I've used it for the first time at the launch party of Poken in Tokyo and I immediately realized how fewer b.cards I had v. connections on doyoupoken.com

Cheers,

The devices requiring SMS sending have an inherent disadvantage: the SMS addresses do not work outside the US and Canada. Woe begone to all manufacturers who think that these two countries are the only markets!

I think I will stick with a business card for now thanks.