Mobile Summit & Updates for Week of 6/23

I'm just returning from the 2nd Annual Mobile Commerce Summit, and I'd like to take a moment to thank Emily Otani and the team at SourceMedia. The mobile banking content was fresh, the speakers were first class, and the venue (Caesars) was the ideal location.

I'm still organizing my notes so you'll have to wait a few more days before I share any of the content; however, there are still lots of newsworthy items. For instance...

Mobile Money Ventures and Android
"Mobile Money Ventures, a joint venture of Citi and SK Telecom, has announced that its solution for mobile financial services is compatible with Android, a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications."

BECU Signs On with Firethorn
"Firethorn Holdings LLC, a Qualcomm company, today announced that it has added BECU (formally known as Boeing Employees' Credit Union) to its growing roster of financial institution customers."

Mastercard and Obopay Join up for P-2-P
"MasterCard is partnering California-based Obopay to provide an on-demand person-to-person (P2P) mobile payments service to its US cardholders. The service - offered via MasterCard's P2P money transfer system MoneySend - will enable issuing banks to provide a mobile payments service to cardholders on all credit, debit and prepaid MasterCard-branded products."

Delta Mobile an mShift Design (http://mobile.delta.com)
"Delta Air Lines Inc. has hooked up with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at New York's LaGuardia Airport to let Delta fliers use their Web-enabled mobile devices to check-in and get an electronic boarding passes."

iPhone Effect on Mobile Banking
"Mobile banking has had its fits and starts, and it has a long way to go before most consumers try it, let alone make it second nature. But let’s face it: There’s no one in the banking industry like Steve Jobs."

ABSA Reaches Half Million Mobile Banking Clients
"After a cautious beginning a few years ago, Cellphone Banking is starting to deliver on its promise of putting ‘your bank in your pocket’, and allowing you to transact anywhere you go. Absa Bank this week celebrated its first major milestone for this emerging banking channel, reaching half-a-million Cellphone Banking customers. Absa’s Managing Executive for Digital Channels, Christo Vrey, says that with 38 million cellular subscribers nationwide, there is a great opportunity for the mobile channel to become the primary banking interface for many South Africans."

Mobile-banking apps with mobile carriers
"Financial institutions are looking to mobile banking as a way to round out their banking options, providing their customers and members more convenient ways to bank. And wireless carriers are offering more ways to get on the mobile-banking bandwagon, connecting FIs to their networks. “It’s a bit of ‘Gold Rush,’” said Nick Holland, a senior analyst at Boston-based Aite Group. 'Mobile banking is almost not an option.'"