Citigroup, the first major bank to evaluate mobile transfers, determined that eventhe people most likely to consider their phones a useful way to send money are still years away from embracing the technology. Citi quietly shuttered a two year old program in December, concluding that consumers are only starting to understand the capabilities of the increasingly sophisticated phones that are now becoming common.
"The market just isn't ready for it yet," says Jeff Semenchuk, head of Citi's new growth ventures unit. "U.S. consumers are now just getting comfortable with using their mobile phone for a lot of things." But for mobile transfers, "the demand is not yet explicit."
Citigroup, the first major bank to evaluate mobile transfers, determined that eventhe people most likely to consider their phones a useful way to send money are still years away from embracing the technology. Citi quietly shuttered a two year old program in December, concluding that consumers are only starting to understand the capabilities of the increasingly sophisticated phones that are now becoming common.
"The market just isn't ready for it yet," says Jeff Semenchuk, head of Citi's new growth ventures unit. "U.S. consumers are now just getting comfortable with using their mobile phone for a lot of things." But for mobile transfers, "the demand is not yet explicit."
I remember when I was a kid in the late 60s when my parents hauled me down to the local savings and loan at the market to open my very own savings account. I still remember the feel of the green cloth cover on the 5 x 7 booklet that the smiling banker slid across the desk to me. My passbook told me everything I needed to know; I didn’t have to log in and it always told me my meager balance–without batteries, keyboard or glowing display. read more »
Consumer protect yourself. That’s the big takeaway from a new report by Javelin Strategies that was supported by the Better Business Bureau found that the number of identity fraud victims in the United States has jumped by 12 percent to 11.1 million adults – the highest increase to-date since the survey started in 2003 – while the total overall fraud amount increased by 12.5 percent to $54 billion. read more »
By Petrony MasterCard Launches MoneySend Mobile Service with Obopay · Malaysians to try Visa contactless payments on their Nokia devices · Obopay allows parents to add money to their children's MasterCard
A new report from web measurement firm comScore Inc. finds that online purchases accounted for 7.7% of total retail spending in Q4, up from 6.9% in Q3 and relatively flat compared with 7.6% in the same period in 2008.
InternetRetailer.com M-commerce is growing solidy in Europe, too, and is expected to outpace the US—which grew by 203% from 2008 to 2009—by the end of 2010, the firm adds.
eWeek Miguel Helft wrote: People close to Google said Ms. Tilenius would oversee Google Checkout, the company's online payments system, and other e-commerce
American Banker | Feb 16 Visa's plan to add mobile phone payments capabilities to handsets that are available now could provide a shot in the arm for contactless payment.
American Banker | Feb 12 MasterCard Inc.'s credit card transactions are not being cannibalized by the growth in debit card use, according to Chris McWilton, its president of U.S. markets.
Laptop Encryption Chips: Dissolved, Needled, Prodded and Hacked
Deep inside millions of computers is a digital Fort Knox, a special chip with the locks to highly guarded secrets, including classified government reports and confidential business plans. Now a former U.S. Army computer security specialist has devised a way to break those locks. The attack can force heavily secured computers to spill documents that likely were presumed to be safe. http://www.technewsworld.com/story/69335.html
The number of people around the world using mobile banking services is doubling every year and will reach 250 million subscribers by 2015, according to ABI Research. More on this story: http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=21098
CompareAndSave.com Figures released by Financial Fraud Action UK last October show that while card fraud losses fell in the first half of 2009, online banking fraud increased ...
CNNMoney.com (blog) This means she'll be in charge of Google Checkout, the online payments system that rivals eBay's PayPal. With all the new devices coming out for consumers, ...
PC World Mobile commerce grew far faster in the US than worldwide last year, vaulting from US$396 million in 2008 to an estimated $1.2 billion in 2009, analyst Mark
The era of the PC's dominance is officially over. We have crossed over into the age of mobile computing. This transition has been building momentum for a while. Some might argue that the iPhone was the dawn of this era. Others might say it was really the rise of the BlackBerry. Or maybe even Android, Google's mobile operating system. Good cases could be made that any one of these marked the start of the mobile era. Read article »
BARCELONA, Spain — If you've got a car and a bicycle, do you need a motorcycle too? Wireless carriers are betting that you do. They're making a big push this year for the motorcycles of the gadget world: devices that are bigger than a phone but smaller than a laptop. Read article »
New forecasts indicate that in 2015 about 244 million people worldwide will carry out financial transactions with their banks using their mobile phones. While 66 million are projcted to be in North America, it isn't the market that is moving fastest to mobile banking: that crown goes to the Asia-Pacific region. Read more
POS Shipments Plunge For Department Stores, Bars, While Inching Up For QSR, Warehouse Chains
Last year was an interesting one for POS shipments. Department stores purchased 24 percent fewer systems than the prior year and bar restaurants bought 19 percent fewer, according to a new report from IHL. Those were the biggest segment drops, while the only two segments to increase at all—and even then, only at 2 percent—were quick-service restaurants and warehouse club chains. But the economic hardships of last year may have shined a tiny ray of light on some bargain-hunting retailers at the expense of Big Blue. IHL President Greg Buzek said second quarter POS shipments last year for IBM plunged more than 40 percent worldwide, and a good chunk of that was a flood of barely used, ludicrously discounted POS units from chains that never made it to 2010. Read more.
Washington Post Today comes news that will make it even easier to buy Facebook Credits: you'll be able to buy them with PayPal.The new partnership actually encompasses a
Baltimore Business Journal 6, claims Timonium-based Bill Me Later skirts California consumer protection ... “If the lawsuit is successful, Bill Me Later may be required to change its
US Cybersecurity Hypothetically Pathetic
Earlier this week, Cyber ShockWave, a simulated cyberattack on America, once again showed that the U.S.'s cybersecurity is not up to the task of protecting the country's infrastructure. Under the hypothetical scenario cooked up by Cyber ShockWave's planners, the attack was launched through smartphones, which are becoming increasingly plausible as a potential threat. http://www.technewsworld.com/story/69365.html
Montreal Gazette The minister was reacting to opposition from public health officials in Quebec's 18 regions who object to Loto-Québec's plans to enter online gambling
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