Techcrunch had a short post today about the Groupon phenomena and the notion of connecting online to offline commerse. While today most services are focusing on finding users online and send them to buy things offline, the next big thing will be different. It will all be about enhancing the offline experience using online technologies and data.

The big question is: when someone is already near or inside the store, what we can do in order to enhance his experience? The combination of mobile, location, the social graph and even things like augmented reality will be the foundation for the next generation of services.
Our mobile handset can easily be aware of who we are, our interests, the objects and places around us and even the people near us.
A great example is Shopkick who launched earlier last week. Their first product allows shoppers to view on demand coupons and information on products while moving around the store.

But commerse is just one aspect of what can be done when offline meets online. I’m seriously looking into what I call “event life extension”.
Every day people go to movies, concerts, shows, clubs and bars. For X amount of minutes we are surrounded by some sort of entertainment experience. But than it ends and we are back to our daily lives.
But what if we could not just enhance these experiences using online data, but also extend their life? Wouldn’t it be cool to get an exclusive link to videos alternative ending to a movie just when you exit the cinema? Or what about getting access to the recording of the concert you have just seen? Not to mention of course the ability to connect with other people who just been with you at the event.

We are just starting to get a glimpse of the connected future. A world where then borders between online and offline are blended. It’s going to be an exciting future to watch and live in.