Why Banks are REALLY scared of mobile payments

Comments "Interesting to look back in the old good days when everything was possible for NFC and mobile payments. 13 years later we do not use our phones everyday to pay at the grocery shop or to buy a transportation ticket.”

Extract "For me, mobile payments began back in 2000 in the innovation area of MasterCard. Using an Ericsson R380 mobile, and a server-based wallet in conjunction with the SET Protocol and possibly the most expensive data connection known to man, we tapped our stylus and paid for an item a little under tree minutes (yes, minutes). This was the future, this was the next big thing."

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Orange et Visa Europe lancent un service NFC : Orange Cash

Commentaire "Peut être enfin la grand initiative qui manquait au NFC pour investir le téléphone mobile et les paiement. Mais les cartes sans contact ont pris de l'avance sur le domaine NFC qui peine à décoller depuis trop longtemps et les opérateurs courent peut être ainsi derrière un train qui est peut être déjà parti et peut être plus grave, sans arrivée..."

Extrait "Orange et Visa Europe annoncent un partenariat autour du paiement mobile sans contact. Les clients de l'opérateur équipés de mobiles compatibles NFC pourront payer dans ces magasins en utilisant le nouveau service Orange Cash. L'utilisateur devra télécharger l'application Orange Cash et créditer son compte prépayé Orange Cash à partir de sa carte bancaire. La technologie sans contact de Visa sera pré-chargée sur les cartes Sim NFC d'Orange. Pour régler son achat en boutique, il n'aura plus qu'à poser son mobile sur le terminal de paiement."

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Egalement ici

Google Wallet : un pied de nez aux opérateurs

Commentaires "L’évolution du wallet Google ne prétend pas ne prétend pas transformer tout terminal Android en mobile NFC mais en migran dans vers le cloud les éléments critiques, l'idée est de se passer du "péage" des opérateurs pour les usages hors de l'écosystème maison"

Extrait "Les récentes évolutions de Google Wallet pouvaient laisser penser que le géant de l'internet commençaient à se détourner de ses ambitions dans le domaine des paiements sans contact. Le lancement de la version "KitKat" d'Android démontre qu'il n'en est rien. Au contraire ! Le porte-monnaie mobile prend aujourd'hui un nouveau départ, 2 ans et demi après sa première apparition."

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MasterCard: Don't 'copy and paste' mobile money services

Comments "This statement should sound like a evidence but it is good sometime to recall it. A “Copy and Paste” is attractive, especially for large corporate but it is unlikely to succeed in mobile payments. See Why”

Extract "“cut and paste” approach to mobile financial services is unlikely to lead to successful propositions, with services tailored to local markets the preferred option, Zahir Khoja, CEO of Mobile Payment Solutions (MPS), said during this morning’s keynote session."

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Ghana: Airtel Ghana Launches Revamped Airtel Money Market

Comments "Despite many added value services proposed by mobile money operators like Aitel, the mobile money market has no taken off yet. Micro insurance, ATM withdrawal, Bank link account… and now e-commerce. But is it really a problem of use cases ?"

Extract "Airtel Ghana has announced the re-launch of its online Airtel Money trade portal, www.airtelmoneymarket.com . This remains one of the platforms where Ghanaians can use Airtel Money online to purchase various digital content such as music, videos and Amazon e-books."

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Mobile-in-Store : 10 usages innovants qui améliorent l’expérience en magasin

Commentaire "Voila des façons positives d'exploiter les nouvelles opportunités offertes par les mobiles plutôt que d'essayer de combattre quelque chose d'inéluctable. Preuve qu'il reste encore beaucoup à inventer sur ce domaine et qu'il est possible de baser de nouvelles stratégies gagnantes sur le mobile"

Extrait "Quand on évoque le mobile-in-store , c’est très souvent pour pointer du doigt le showrooming et ses effets désastreux sur les réseaux de vente traditionnels au profit des e-marchands. Certaines enseignes ont même mis en place des stratégies pour lutter plus ou moins efficacement contre ce phénomène : brouillage du réseau Internet, mise en place de références produit non comparables sur le Net, paiement d’un fee à l’entrée du magasin remboursable en cas d’achat, etc. Pourtant, selon un sondage IPSOS publié le 29 avril 2013, 72% des français préfèrent acheter en magasin physique, plébiscitant sa dimension humaine et l’accès direct aux produits."

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POLi Payments court-circuite les banques

Commentaires "Initiative Australienne effectivement proche techniquement de celle proposée en Europe par My Bank (EBA) mais diffusée et marketée de façon différente. Reste a savoir si ailleurs les banques seront prêtes à offrir l'accès direct au APIs web banking nécessairent à son fonctionnement." 

Extract "Son service existe depuis quelque temps mais son annonce d'une nouvelle option d'échange d'argent entre amis via Facebook me permet de m'attarder un moment sur une jeune entreprise australienne (également présente en Nouvelle-Zélande), POLi Payments, dont la solution de paiement en ligne soulève d'intéressantes questions.
Le dernier ajout (en version beta) que vient de présenter la société permet de profiter des mêmes mécanismes sur Facebook, pour gérer des échanges d'argent de personne à personne (P2P) : le demandeur crée un compte dans l'application (en fournissant son RIB, ou, du moins, l'équivalent australien) puis envoie une requête de paiement à ses amis, qui vont alors, sans quitter le réseau social, accéder à leur compte via les services en ligne de leur banque et valider le virement correspondant."

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Understanding Customers for Financial Innovation in Ghana

Comments "Interesting study of the CGAP about the mobile money market in Ghana. Despite a lot of advantages in terms of phone users, literacy rate, GDP, operators did not found the right formula for ma mobile monney take off. An opportunity for other players?"

Extract "The branchless banking market in Ghana is promising but has not gained traction as expected. Even though the main providers have actively brought services to market, mobile money usage is low. Our partner, Tigo Cash, is dynamic and full of new ideas. Yet they are struggling with high numbers of inactive customers just as other operators are. CGAP and Tigo Cash decided to work together in order to better understand what’s preventing Ghanaian customers from actively using mobile money and to develop more compelling offerings that customers in this market would actively use."

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Afrimarket targeting Cameroon for 2014 launch

Comments "Afrimarket is a very promising startup on the remittance market, focusing on Gift Card for the beneficiary side. With its recent funding, Afrimarket is now a good position to expand its service all across Africa.

Extract "Mobile money remittance service Afrimarket will expand its operations to Cameroon as part of its plan to cover the African diaspora with its affordable transcontinental solution.
Launched in June 2013, Afrimarket allows people in Europe to send money to their contacts in West African countries such as the Ivory Coast, Senegal and Benin."

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Global mobile money transfer to top $10 billion in 2013

Comments "Going beyond top up is the real challenge for Telcos... Cash remittance is another job and they need time to ajust their process to regulatory constraints. Banks should take advantage of it!»

Extract "The value of international money transfers made via mobile devices this year will exceed $10 billion for the first time, according to Juniper Research. However, the cost and complexity of regulating cash transfer has led many telecom providers to focus exclusively on airtime top ups, the research firm reported."

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Stockholm’s Homeless Accept Cards as Cash No Longer King

Comments "Even in a cashless society, everyone has to find a way to do its own business....it seems less convenient to use a plastic card to buy a newspaper. But if there is no other choice, it has be to tried.."

Extrait "Stockholm’s homeless magazine vendors no longer need to ask if you can spare any krona. They take cards. In the most cashless society on the planet, the sellers of Situation Stockholm, a culture magazine sold by homeless people, were last month equipped with card readers to accept donations from fellow Swedes. The move marks a world first, according to their employer. "

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PayPal working with Blackhawk to add gift cards to digital wallets

Comments "It really make sense to match digital wallets and gift cards programs. Paypal is once again showing the way to its competitors. Who will follow soon ?"

Extract "The prepaid payment provider Blackhawk Network is working with PayPal to bring gift cards to the digital wallet. The collaboration will include Blackhawk's broad range of physical gift cards and e-gifts, many from leading brands, Blackhawk said in a news release."

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Apple has killed NFC. Next up: an Amex purchase?

Comments "Will it be the next move ? This would be an amazing and powerfull stategy as described in this article. But the two company do not have the same DNA..."

Extract "With the release of the iPhone 5S and 5C, we saw the death of mobile payment as we know it, and the hundreds of thousands of NFC-enabled retailers across the world are now scratching their heads about what to do next.
But why has Apple been so violently opposed to the NFC standard that the rest of the payments industry has adopted?"

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