Posts filed under 'mobile devices'
Today we announced our partnership with the STAR Network. STAR is a First Data company and a leading debit card network. Our partnership with STAR will enable over 4800 banks and credit unions that already use the STAR network to easily bring their own branded mobile money service to market, leveraging their existing connections and back office processes that they already have established with STAR.
This new offering is instant, making it unique in the market. The feedback that we get from users is that instant is expected in mobile and our work with STAR is designed to deliver on that expectation. It is exciting for us to be the first to offer this. Now, 80 million plus account holders that have a STAR debit card have instant capabilities that are connected.
This new offering enables banks to give their customers the ability to send and transfer money to anyone who can get instant access to the funds, even if they bank at different banks. This is great for families in different parts of the country who may have accounts at different financial institutions. It will also enable customers to get paid for goods or services and receive those payments right into their own bank account with instant access to the funds.
September 8th, 2010
The State Department had a half day event for employees and guests about Mobile Money. Well attended and great interest in mobile money for “development” (improving political, economic, and human conditions around the world).
The group was diverse in experience – which is a challenge for a presenter. Since I co-presented the first session my goal was to create a common understanding of mobile money, how it is successfully implemented, and what are the benefits. I wanted to make sure the audience came up to speed quickly and got beyond the simplistic view. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive about the opening session (partial credit goes to Jan Chipchase my co-presenter who started the session with a look at the needs of under-served people around the world) .
What is the role of State in Mobile Money
In conversations I learned that although State is enthusiastic about mobile money for development, their engagement model is still to be determined. They want to see these solutions go to places like Haiti as well as large markets like India. Yet I don’t think they yet know exactly what their role should be in helping make that happen. I was able to give them some initial input and plan to follow up in the coming weeks. Here are some of my thoughts on how they should get involved:
- Encouraging financial services regulatory certainty for mobile money. As they “encourage” they have vast resources of knowledge and experience on regulations. Obopay operates in diverse regulatory environments – which is one of our great strengths. Yet it is prohibitive to launch mobile money in markets where regulation is uncertain. State has the influence and resources to accelerate this in some cases.
- Discourage anti-competitive and anti-innovative practices. We have seen around the world financial and telecom actors take action to inhibit new entrants and innovation. The State Department can encourage mobile network operators and financial actors to adopt open access practices. This will encourage innovation and create a vibrant market. And this will in turn translate into more services reaching more people that need them.
- Help trusted actors connect. Especially important in challenging markets. We have passed the test and demonstrated we are trusted to US regulators as well as regulators and partners around the world and, as a result, we get inquiries from many developing countries (for example Nigeria, Pakistan). We would like the State Department to help local actors know about us, since we have the trust of US regulators. And we would like their help in understanding which local actors are good partners – especially in challenging countries. Of course, we would want this for the industry – not just for Obopay.
Tell us about your other meetings in Washington DC.
I have to confess that although I have been to DC many times, I have never reached out to talk with law makers. I met with staff from 6 Congressmen and 1 Senator. I was impressed with how accessible their offices were and how open they were to discussing important topics with me. I wanted to focus on legislators who were involved in foreign affairs, and banking regulations—two areas where we have a great deal of experience to share.
All were keenly interested in mobile money – learning more, understanding how it works, asking how they can be helpful. Most meetings were primarily initial discussions but clearly there is opportunity to engage government in the dialogue and policy setting to ensure we maximize the opportunity to create growth and jobs.
One surprise was the lack of cross government coordination. I ended up educating people about what activities were going on in other agencies – treasury, state. Although we are a collaborative government in spirit, our size and complexity makes cross functional sharing difficult.
This administration is young and clearly tech enthusiasts. I am hoping that it will help build more communication between the Legislative and Executive branches. While most offices where watching CNN or CNBC – maybe in the future they will be reading blogs and watching tweets from each other. No question that social media should have a strong impact on intra agency communications
Do you expect follow up and results from your visit?
Hard to say. I know it was worthwhile to make the connections. I will keep in touch with many of the groups and individuals I connected with and we shall see what comes out of it. I have to admit it made me a little patriotic coming to Washington and meeting with different organizations. Despite all our challenges, we have many great qualities. One is the number of smart, passionate, hardworking people working on the “Hill”.
August 5th, 2010
What will be the impact?
For a time, we’ve been saying in this space that the tipping point for mobile payments in the United States was upon us. A story covered by Bloomberg news yesterday serves as corroboration of this belief. Shortly after the final bell rang on the NYSE yesterday, Bloomberg reported that unnamed sources claimed AT&T and Verizon Wireless were planning a joint venture(JV) to uproot the hold traditional plastic credit cards have on electronic transactions by developing a smart phone based payment system. T-Mobile was also reportedly a minor player in this consortium.
- The pilot of this JV is reported to be in 4 cities with smart phones and proximity payments as the key application (instead of swiping a card you wave your phone in front of a special retail terminal).
- Discover and Barclays are participating as financial services partners
- They don’t yet have a CEO for the JV and are undertaking a search.
- This is being seen as a potential threat to Visa and Mastercard and their 82% share of consumer retail payments in the US. This could also have a big effect on banks since they have significant revenue from “interchange” – the fees tied to MC and Visa transactions.
It is too soon to predict the full impact and the speed at which this new venture will be rolled out. If, however, it is successful the potential is huge since more than half of all the new phones shipped in the market today are smart phones. What is predictable is a response from the other players in the US. Some, like banks, VISA, Mastercard, retailers, have had a “wait and see” attitude about mobile money in the US. Compared to their counterparts in other parts of the world, the US-based companies have been slower to invest in mobile. This news will accelerate their plans, serving as a call to action for financial institutions in the US to quickly begin planning how to enter the mobile payments market, not just launch mobile banking solutions.
Is the opportunity for mobile payments in proximity payments or wireless payments?
Both, only proximity payments take a lot more time to gain broad adoption. In Japan it took a decade. The opportunity is very large – the biggest segments are retail, check replacement, money transfer, and online commerce. All four represent significant opportunity.
One of the big questions is what will get things started here. We think the US market is more likely to ignite around wireless payments first, then move into proximity due to challenges in bringing together the number of players required to roll out proximity payments and the expense involved. Once started, people will expand their use to other types of payments. We see this in every country where we are – it starts with one compelling reason but once the consumer trusts it they are looking for other uses.
This venture into retail proximity payments could change how we pay for things when we are doing in person transactions. Visa and MasterCard were responsible for processing 82 percent, representing $2.45 trillion of consumer spending on cards in the US according to the Nilson Report. If mobile payments from the mobile operators take off, this could be impacted. This would also impact the banks since they generate revenue from VISA and Mastercard payments.
Do you think the mobile carriers will be successful in payments?
They can be. And mobile carriers playing a lead role in mobile payments in the US may be a concern for financial institutions, which have traditionally played that role here. We see and even work with mobile carriers in other markets who are creating successful solutions. However, in the US the mobile payment market is the financial service providers’ to lose. But they must act quickly, and move into a full range of mobile money transactions because the carrier efforts have already begun—and they have already seen some success in other areas like “text to donate” and digital content billings. In the US consumers are first looking to other financial service providers to provide mobile money. If they move quickly, they definitely can be a part of consumer solutions. There is a window open right now for financial service providers to move quickly into wireless payments, since proximity payments will take some time to rollout. The necessary physical changes required in phone and merchant terminals will increase the time for implementation.
How will Obopay respond and what does this mean for Obopay
We offer a comprehensive mobile money service operating in 4 countries. Today, we offer our partners Mobile Money solutions which will allow them to deploy their own branded mobile money service. Designed to make the bank’s accounts or existing prepaid offerings the anchor for all current and future mobile money transactions, the service combines complete brand control, and a full range of mobile transactions and applications with simple low-cost integration and deployment. Obopay’s Mobile Money for includes the ability to send and transfer money as well as payment card acceptance available to everyone. It can be implemented in 30 days or less.
We know that this JV will accelerate interest in mobile payments and with it the adoption of our service. And those financial service providers that prefer to get the capability from MasterCard can adopt MasterCard’s Mobile MoneySend or FIS Global’s People Pay solution–both of which are offered in partnership with Obopay.
August 3rd, 2010
We were pleased to announce this morning a new multi-country relationship with Societe Generale, starting in Senegal, and were glad to see the breadth of coverage in banking and wireless publications that agree this is going to transform the way people live and work. This new service, Yoban’tel by Obopay, will bring unique mobile money access to millions and make significant changes in their lives. As one example, someone who wants to pay their utility bill in Senegal must stand in line for hours with cash in hand—every month. This service will allow any Senegalese resident who owns a mobile phone to send money to friends or merchants using a simple SMS transaction
And the fact that payment is instant means something else unique to Senegal. Soccer fans who only want to watch a particular series of matches during the World Cup don’t have to continually run down to their TV service provider to make those payments in cash. This may seems strange to us, but imagine if you could only see certain televised Olympic sports by going to your cable providers office! And most of the country is not banked—which means dealing in cash. Whether it is paying a bill or paying a friend, this service also means that they don’t have to risk the danger of walking around with a lot of cash on payday.
Societe Generale is one of the largest banks in the world and this is a real opportunity to start bringing mobile money to their existing and potential customers. We look forward to helping them achieve this goal.
June 28th, 2010
Today MasterCard enhanced its offering to banks that want to get into the mobile money market with the announcement of its new MoneySend iPhone app, available at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mastercard-moneysend/id372752936?mt=8
The MasterCard MoneySend iPhone app is another clear illustration of the power smartphones (and iPhone in particular) are proving to be in driving adoption of mobile payments. According to NPD Group, smartphone shipments were up 47% in the first quarter of this year and according to IDC , the iPhone’s share of market grew dramatically in 2009—reaching 14.4% of the 174 million that were shipped during 2009.
All this spells the tipping point in mobile payments. We have already seen the usage of our own iPhone app drive as much as 3 to 5 more active usage of our service. Smart Phone users adopt things more quickly and are more active.
U.S. banks are beginning to realize that if they don’t move to make bank accounts the anchor of mobile payments, they will lose out to competition both inside and outside the banking industry. That has been the driving premise behind our announcement last month of Mobile Money for Banks—a low cost, no hassle, and swift product suite for banks to get into this market in as little as 30 days. Of course, we are pleased to be powering this new app from MasterCard. We are also pleased with what this means to the development of mobile banking across the country.
June 3rd, 2010
What is Nokia and Obopay announcing today?
We just launched the first commercial version of the Nokia Money in India. Read about it here.
The launch is starting with a commercial pilot in Pune, which is one of the country’s largest metropolitan areas in the region. It is being offered in partnership with Yes Bank and is being called Mobile Money Service by Yes Bank powered by Nokia. It’s the comprehensive service which allows you to transfer money to another person just by using the person’s mobile phone number, pay bills, as well as recharge your prepaid SIM cards.
We’re also working to enable consumers to pay merchants for goods and services in the next few months.
What is so special about your service offering?
In many ways our offering with Nokia and Yes Bank are taking mobile payments and banking to the next level. This new service is one of the most comprehensive services available in the market. It’s going to change the game for mobile payments. Obopay brings operating experience with mobile payments from around the world. The offering combines Nokia’s retail reach, brand awareness, and handset expertise to provide unparalleled access and ease of use for these services. Additionally, the service offers a comprehensive feature set that enables people to use it to meet all of their daily payment needs including utility bill pay, top-up minutes, send money using P2Pand pay merchants using P2M features. It’s also the only service that is designed to convert physical cash to e-money, which is being delivered in a way that provides unprecedented access to financial services through Nokia’s retail reach. It’s also the only mobile payment service with a user-friendly application that can be accessed by the masses. Our application uses secure SMS, rather than requiring the user to have a mobile data plan.
Why did you select India as the first emerging market to launch Nokia Money initiative?
We chose India because of its enormous scale and potential as the home to a population of 1.5 billion people. It’s also got the fastest growing cellular market in the world. Right now there are 500 million mobile phones in India, but it’s expected to be more than 900 million by the end of 2013. 41% of India’s population does not even have a bank account. Combined, the market potential here is huge in India.
Nokia and Obopay also bring significant experience and resources to the Indian market. Nokia is among the leading brands in India in market share with over 200,000 retail stores throughout.
We also have a lot of operating experience in India. We have been live in India with YES BANK since 2008. We have a deep understanding of the complex marketplace, the regulations, and ecosystem.
With our combined experience and market potential we felt there was no better place than India for a service offering like this.
What are your expansion plans in India?
We plan to extend the launch over the upcoming months and aggressively roll out the service to all major cities in India within a year.
What does Nokia and YES BANK add to the service offering?
Nokia brings the strength, trust, and the vast distribution of their brand. They’ve got 200,000 retailers across India who could serve as authorized Nokia Money agents. They also bring enormous handset expertise and uniquely developed mobile elements.
YES BANK, who is a long-time partner of Obopay, is the fastest growing bank in India. In fact, it was awarded the “Most Innovative Bank in India.”
We’re a strong company and have strong partners for this service and will continue to grow the ecosystem of partners including mobile operators, banks, distributors and merchants to bring Nokia Money to the market successfully.
How will this impact the lives of Indians?
This service has enormous potential to empower the lives of its users. It has the potential to bring finical services to the hundreds of thousands of Indian Citizens who have previously not had access to them, improving their lives in the process. It’s safer, convenient, and more efficient than cash. It gives consumers and merchants the ability to manage their finances in ways that were not available to them before. It’ll enable business to get paid faster, which will increase productivity.
February 15th, 2010
1) Why did Obopay choose to launch an iPhone application?
Obopay loves smart phones – since they are such great platforms to deliver a rich, colorful experience. We have been a long time supporter of BlackBerry, and now with this release we add a state-of-the-art iPhone application. Piper Jaffray reports that iPhone remains popular among U.S. teenagers (16% plan to buy). ChangeWave Research reports 30% of adults plan to buy an iPhone, (37% plan to buy a BlackBerry). Clearly this demonstrates the trend that US consumers of all ages are flocking to smart phones.
2) How is this different from mobile payments apps available today?
The iPhone is a superior platform in many ways – it allows us to give our users an experience that is a truly next generation. Combine that with the fact that the Obopay iPhone app makes use of advanced platform features such as push notifications and offers family-centric money management features that make it a cut above anything else on the market today.
3) Who is most likely to use the Obopay iPhone application and why?
Family money management is one of the killer use cases that we pushed during the conceptualization process of our iPhone application and it shows. Parents can monitor children’s spending and make real-time transfers to/from family accounts while children can send requests for emergency money to their parents which can be acted upon in seconds. We are pioneering a new, more social way of thinking about money and the iPhone is a huge step towards this goal.
3a) Can I get this application from my bank?
Obopay iPhone works with any bank in the US. You can connect your cards and accounts to Obopay. In addition, we have a program so that your bank can brand and offer Obopay directly to you. Banks that are interested should contact us at banks@obopay.com.
4) How will this app empower the merchant community?
The Obopay iPhone app keeps the small merchant in mind and it offers a number of compelling features such as push requests, advanced history display and tracking that empowers small merchants.
5) Are you working on an app for the Android phone?
Android is an exciting up-and-coming platform that Obopay is keeping a very close eye on. Obviously we recognize the potential behind Android, but are not announcing anything today.
December 11th, 2009
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