Mobile Commerce Summit 2009

If you're reading this blog and you're not registered for the 3rd Annual Mobile Commerce Summit...please register NOW.

Location: The New M Resort - Las Vegas
When: June 3-5

This conference is completely dedicated to mobile banking, mobile payments, and mobile commerce. The speakers for this year include:
Jeff Dennes - USAA
Amy Johnson - Wells Fargo
Kevin Morrison - H&R Block
Patrick Reetz - M&I Bank
Ginger Schmeltzer - SunTrust Bank
Juli Anne Callis - National Institutes of Health Federal Credit Union
Jim Simpson - City Bank
Matt Dilll - Western Union
Armin Ajami - Wells Fargo

Panel discussions will include:
* Vendor Evaluation, Selection and Integration
* Community-Regional Bank Panel: Lessons Learned from Mobile Banking Rollouts
* Mobile Remittances and Funds Transfers
* Customer Security in Mobile Financial Services
* The Mobile Marketing Landscape - Financial Services and Beyond
* Where are the Mobile Revenue Opportunities?
* Building Standards to Support the Evolution of Mobile Payments
* The Convergence of Prepaid Cards and Mobile Commerce
* The Impact of Smartphones on the Customer Experience
* The Potential in Mobile Distribution and Social Networking

Don't miss this opportunity - register now.

Mobile Banking Updates - Apr 30

Western Union, Consumer Portfolio Service and VeriSign Team to Offer Mobile Bill Payment Solution
"The Western Union Company, together with Consumer Portfolio Services Inc. (CPS) and VeriSign’s Messaging and Mobile Media Division, today announced a pilot project enabling CPS customers to trigger their monthly car payment directly from their mobile phone. Unlike mobile payment services that direct the consumer to a website or interactive voice response system (IVR), the new service allows consumers to quickly and easily initiate their payment using their phone’s text messaging service based on debit or credit card information entered online."

M-Com and Fawry team on mobile banking in Egypt
"Based on M-Com's globally leading mobile payments and banking solution - BankAnywhere - Fawry Banking and Payment Technology Services will enable banks to offer a broad range of mobile payment, alerting and banking services to their customer base."

Fronde Anywhere Expands Presence in Asia
"Fronde Anywhere, the leading provider of innovative mobile payment, banking and security products is expanding its in-market presence in Southeast Asia. 'Our solutions really seem to be hitting the mark with clients in Asia’', says Caroline Dewe, CEO, Fronde Anywhere, 'our partnership with Logica in this region has proven very successful in generating regional references for all our offerings and we are expanding our on the ground resource in order to further increase our Southeast Asian footprint.'"

NCR Unleashes Remote Check Deposit by Using Mobile Phone Cameras
"NCR Corporation is allowing consumers to deposit checks safely from wherever they can get reception on their data-enabled mobile phones, such as an iPhone or Blackberry. The company today announced an agreement with Mitek Systems, Inc., an innovator of image analytics and mobile imaging software, to integrate Mitek's ImageNet Mobile Deposit software into NCR's APTRA Passport family of remote deposit capture solutions."

Mobile Banking Updates - Apr 27

Wesabe to Offer iPhone Financial Tool to Banks
"Wesabe Inc. has developed an iPhone version of its software that lets banks offer financial management tools under their own brands. The San Francisco company is expecting to receive approval today to market the personal financial management application through Apple Inc.'s App Store directly to iPhone users. Wesabe also plans to offer a white-label version that banks can offer under their own brand to their customers to keep track of accounts."

One billionth application was downloaded from Apple’s revolutionary App Store
"Apple announced today that the downloads from its revolutionary App Store, the largest applications store in the world, topped one billion."

Point, Click, Truncate: Eyeing Mobile Capture
"Last year, check-imaging analytics firm Mitek Systems turned heads when it announced plans to market mobile-based remote deposit capture (RDC) software. But when no rollouts materialized, doubts crept in about whether consumer RDC through a cell-phone camera would ever gain traction. In the last few months, however, Mitek has announced that it has signed on two key partners to distribute its mobile capture system alongside mobile banking and standard office-based remote deposit capture infrastructure."

Mobile Commerce First from Dashen
"Dashen Bank signed an agreement with iVery, a South African electronic payment technology company, for the introduction of mobile commerce to Ethiopia last week on Tuesday, April 21, 2009. According to the agreement, iVeri Payment Technologies has licensed its Gateway and MiCard e-payment processing solution to Dashen Bank."

Apple discusses iPhone with Verizon
"Apple is discussing the option of developing a customized iPhone for Verizon, sources close to the negotiations said. The device would be the first iPhone developed for a code division multiple access wireless network, which allows phones to maintain their independence while operating on the same bandwidth. The AT&T system uses a GSM (global system for mobile) system, USA Today reported Monday."

Analysis - Mobile Banking Performance

There was some great information released while I was at Net.Finance last week; yet, it has received very little coverage.

The press release was titled, "Gomez and dotMobi Launch First Benchmarks That Measure Five Critical Dimensions of Success for Mobile Web Sites," but most of articles/blogs have focused on the data suggesting that, "mobile Web sites are 30 percent slower when compared to computer-based Web browsing."

More importantly...this release is the first public comparison of mobile banking websites, and here are the results:

"5 Bar Summary"
1) Bank of America
2) Chase
3) US Bank

My only criticism is that I'd like to see Gomez/dotMobi extend their survey to the Top 25 U.S. banks in order to give the other early adopters a chance to be evaluated.

To see the details of the study - click here.

Net.Finance

It looks like my posts from yesterday afternoon failed to upload, so here are some key notes.

James Van Dyke & Mark Schwanhausser
Javelin Strategy and Research

- Bank of America, Chase, and Wells Fargo control 39% of the onlyne banking market.
- Customers are looking for:
1) Convenience
2) Ability to monitor/protect their accts
3) Accts consolidated at fewer FIs not more
- To win banks must be the clients primary FI which is achieved with direct deposit an active bill pay
- Need to reenergize online banking with: bill pay, mobile, alerts, PFM, expedited payments an green initiatives
- Gen Y is twice as likely to open their acct online

Net.Finance Session 2

Sanjay Gosala
Discover

Developing Successful Acquistion Marketing
- Think outside the box. Direct mail, telemarketing, broadcast...are all down.
- Opportunity in online marketing but don't try to own every online channel. Target even within the online solutions.

Net.Finance Session 1

Tom Cannon - HSBC Canada
Building an Optimized Organization

A discussion about projects:
- Key is using a strong usability process.
- Projects should not be "Done." Projects should continually evolve
- He prefers Rosettas personas to traditional demographics/psychographics
- Hold back opinions, ask about the data, evangalize, encourage mistakes

Note from Brandon: If you would like to learn more about Usabilty visit Human Factors International. I recently completed their 10 day training program.

Mobile Banking and KPMG Study

I'm testing out my new Blogger app for the iPhone today and will be blogging live from the Net.Finance conference in just a few hours. Until then I'd like to share some thoughts on the recent KPMG study.

My first recommendation is - be sure to read past the headlines. You might not realize it but this single study has produced the following headlines:

US Consumers Believe Mobile Banking is Important - FierceWireless.com

US Consumers Avoiding Mobile Banking - WebProNews.com

US Consumers Terrified of Mobile Banking - PCMag.com

US Consumers Snub Mobile Banking - Tech.Yahoo.com

Are US Consumers Ready to Adopt Mobile -Credit.com

Mobile Banking Isn't Catching On - Investors. com

So, now lets separate the facts from the opinions!

Facts:
85% of US respondents believe mobile banking is important

19% of US respondents are "somewhat likely" to use mobile banking in the next 12 months

Note: I am extremely pleased with my adoption numbers to date, but 19% adoption in year one would have me singing in the streets.

Opinions:
1) "The fact that the majority of US consumers are not aware that their current banks offer mobile banking is clearly more perception than reality."

Note: Not really. By the end of 2009 only 3% of US banks/credit unions will have a mobile solution

2) "95% of US respondents said they have never made a purchase...using their mobile device...further suggesting an unfamiliarity or lack of comfort in using a mobile device for transactions and payments."

Note: Not really. The other critical factor is that many retailers do no yet have mobile sites and far fewer accept mobile purchases. For example - the mobile site for Target will let you browse for your new HD TV but then refers you to their standard site or a nearby store for the purchase.

As always I recommend digging into the data and making your own conclusion.

Mobile Banking Updates - Apr 14

Using Your Phone to Make Payments for Transactions
"Mobile phones have so many uses these days that we can often replace other gadgets (cameras, music players, laptops) with a single mobile phone device. Something else that we may soon be able to replace with the mobile phone is our debit cards and credit cards. That’s because we are seeing an increasing interest in the ability to use the mobile phone to make contactless payments for transactions on-site. This technology hasn’t quite hit the mainstream yet but the development of new handsets that allow for these transactions along with successful trials of mobile payments throughout the world seem to indicate that this could be the way of the future."

NACHA Payments 2009 Highlights - Erin McCune
"The exhibit hall was approximately one half the size of last year and many of the vendors opted for smaller booths than they’ve had in the past. There were relatively few bankers in attendance - travel budgets are tight, as is scrutiny of how TARP funds are spent ("Disney World Boondoggle!" would be bad PR indeed). This was disappointing for the vendors but great from my perspective; they had lots of time to talk to curious consultants from Glenbrook."


Fifth Third Bank Selects VeriSign for Mobile Text Alert Services
"Fifth Third Bank has selected VeriSign Messaging and Mobile Media, a division of VeriSign, Inc., to provide mobile banking alert services through short message service (SMS) messaging to its more than 1.3 million active online banking customers, VeriSign announced today."

Mobile Banking on Twitter

The Mobile Banking Blog is now on Twitter: www.twitter.com/_bmcgee

Mobile Banking Updates - Apr 12

SmartyPig, the Social Bank, Goes Mobile
"The current economic downturn is the perfect opportunity for this social banking service to go mobile. I love the design and the smart features that leverage the social networking experience to help people save money. The service promises to make people save money by setting specific goals and help them to get there."

China Mobile Partners with Alipay for Mobile Payments
"China Mobile’s Zhejiang branch agreed (NYSE:CHL) to use Alipay’s online payment service. Alipay is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alibaba Group (HKG:1688), will provide payment services for all mobile service subscriptions. Most analysts agree that 'the cooperation is the first one China Mobile has entered into with a third-party online payment platform operator, said market observers. China Mobile, once the outrunner in the Chinese telecom market, used to take charge of every lucrative business itself in the past 2G era.'"

Mobile Banking Adoption Driven by Device Not Age

Surprise! Mobile-Banking Adoption Depends on Phone, Not Age
"Consumers’ propensity to use mobile devices to conduct banking functions depends on the sophistication of the device, not on the consumer’s age, according to recent research. Indeed, mobile users equipped with iPhones or other touchscreen-enabled smart phones are far more likely to use the devices for mobile financial services than are users with ordinary cell phones or even devices with full keyboards, regardless of age, says the research, whose results were presented this week at an electronic-payments trade show in Orlando, Fla." Continue Reading >>

Mobile Banking Updates - Apr 8

U.S. consumers snub mobile banking on security fears
"Banks and cellphone companies have a long way to go to persuade U.S. consumers to use their cellphones for banking, as many worry about security and extra fees and others are not even aware they can. In a survey of about 500 U.S. consumers, accounting firm KPMG found that only about 9 percent had tried mobile banking. In comparison, about 76 percent "consistently use" online banking services on computers."


Financial services should invest in mobile banking, says Arthur D. Little
"Arthur D. Little is a management consulting firm that works primarily with Fortune 500 companies. According to a report report released today by the company, mobile banking is an area that financial services worldwide should be investing in. Citing the growing maturity of the mobile Internet, and the need for more advanced services than just SMS for mobile banking, Arthur D. Little says that the area is a promising revenue stream."

Prepaid Account Offers Mobile Banking Service to Immigrants
"Denarii Payments Inc. of Atlanta has developed a mobile phone-linked prepaid product called SizzleMoney that is initially targeting Hispanic immigrants. People can use the product to send one another money by text message, access funds in their SizzleMoney accounts with a prepaid debit card and make purchases at the point of sale with their phones. 'It's basically mobile cash,' said Donald Baggett, Denarii's founder and chief executive officer."

NYCE EXTENDS ATM NETWORK - MONITISE

"NYCE today announced that it will offer balance inquiries by text message to its financial institution participants as a standard feature of full participation in the NYCE Network. NYCE Payments Network, LLC, is a leading U.S. electronic payments network and a Metavante (NYSE:MV) company. Metavante Corporation is a leading provider of banking and payments technology.

The basic text message transactions will be an extension of the balance inquiry functionality commonly available at NYCE Network ATMs, with no additional fees for mobilization. The new service, powered by Monitise Americas, will allow consumers to use text messaging to request and receive real-time balance information on their primary accounts. Text message balance inquiries will work for virtually all mobile phone users regardless of their mobile carrier or the type of handset they use." Continue Reading >>

Mobile Banking Updates - Mar 5

Verisign brings extra security to the iPhone
"Worried that someone could steal your online identity, financial assets or data when you sign into accounts on the iPhone? Then Verisign’s free VIP Access app may be just what you’re looking for. VIP Access, now available in the Apple App Store, adds an extra layer of security on top of online accounts. To do this, it produces a temporary security code that remains valid for only 30 seconds — during which time you must sign into the online account in question. Actually, it’s a three step process:"

Citi and Visa in Singapore m-payments trial
"The pilot, to begin in May, will see up to 300 Citi M1 Platinum Visa cardholders given a Nokia 6212 classic handset. Participants can make purchases of up to S$100 at over 750 merchants by waving the NFC-enabled mobile phones over a contactless reader at the point of sale."


New Features in iPhone OS 3.0 will Help Banking Apps
"Apple's new iPhone operating system was announced last week. There are more than 100 new features that will make the phone even more valuable plus 1,000 new APIs to keep developers innovating like mad. The new OS will be available 'this summer.' Most changes are relatively minor, but two are significant for online banking and personal finance apps:"

Paul Iemma Joins Mobile Money Ventures

Mobile Money Ventures, LLC (MMV), a leading global solutions provider of the next generation of mobile financial services, announced today it has hired Paul Iemma as director of sales. In addition, MMV has expanded its technology, business development, project management and marketing divisions with the hiring of several new team members.

“Paul has more than 30 years of sales experience and will be a critical part of the Mobile Money Ventures team as we increase our market position and expand our mobile financial services offerings,” said Jayastu Bhattacharya, senior vice president of Strategic Business Development for MMV. Continue Reading >>

Mobile Banking Updates - Apr 1

Monitise Works with DeviceAnywhere to Make Mobile Money Available to Everyone
"DeviceAnywhere, the leading global provider of mobile application testing and development, today announced that it is working with Monitise, the mobile money experts, to test Monitise’s Mobile Money Manager across DeviceAnywhere’s 2000+ devices and 30 operator platforms."

Sun, C-SAM Launch Mobile Banking Solution
"Sun Microsystems and C-SAM have introduced a new mbanking solution for Indian banks that can be enabled on GSM or CDMA. 'Mobile banking will eventually allow users to make payments at the physical point of sale. Mobile contact-less payments will make up 10% of the contact-less market by 2010,' said Swapan Dutta, TeleWeb Sales., Sun Microsystems India"

MasterCard enhances mobile payment sticker for handsets
"MasterCard Worldwide has teamed up with Blaze Mobile to introduce the Blaze Mobile MasterCard PayPass mobile payment sticker.The small mobile payment sticker can be affixed to any mobile device, enabling it to be used for "Tap & Go" purchases at any of the over 141,000 merchant locations that accept PayPass."

Bank Of Stockton Launches ClairMail-Powered Alerts
"ClairMail, Inc., the leader in mobile banking and payment solutions that enable complete control over finances from any mobile phone, today announced that Bank of Stockton has launched ClairMail's mobile alerts service. With ClairMail's mobile alerts, Bank of Stockton customers can instantly have time-sensitive balance, transaction and security notifications sent directly to their mobile phones via SMS - empowering them with greater control over all aspects of their finances."