Qualcomm Names Rocco Fabiano President of Firethorn

"Qualcomm Incorporated, a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies, products and services, today announced the appointment of financial services industry veteran Rocco Fabiano to lead the Company's mobile commerce subsidiary, Firethorn Holdings, LLC. As president of Firethorn, Fabiano will provide strategic direction and lead Firethorn's expansion into new markets. Fabiano succeeds Firethorn founder Tripp Rackley, who will be transitioning to a new role on Firethorn's advisory board." >> Continue Reading

Mobile Banking Updates - Jan 10

Qualcomm shares its mobile-wallet vision
"Wireless-chip giant Qualcomm expects to launch a wireless-gift-card-and-transaction service late this year called Swagg, another step toward the San Diego company’s ultimate goal of having cell phones replace credit cards and become a mobile wallet for consumers.

Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm’s CEO, gave a sneak peek at the service during his keynote address yesterday at the annual Consumer Electronics Show. While he didn’t provide a lot of details, Jacobs said the mobile-gift-card portion of the Swagg platform should be available before the next holiday season."

Mobile Banking Faces Uphill Battle in Mature Markets
"The mobile phone is turning into the platform of choice for banking in emerging markets. In developed markets, however, the phone has struggled to compete with existing payment methods, and the challenges aren't going away in 2010.

Mobile banking services gained momentum in 2009 with roll-outs in dozens of countries in emerging markets, including Brazil, Cambodia and Malaysia, and the pace will continue this year, according to Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner's Mobile Devices and Consumer Services group."

Microsoft Monoculture Going Mobile?
"Mobile banking is growing fast in Korea, and the rising popularity of smartphones, which work more like handheld computers than conventional phones, was supposed to take the market even further.

However, critics say a letdown is due, with government authorities all but assuring that Microsoft will dictate the Internet banking experience on portable devices as it does on desktop computers here."

Bill Me Later hit with class-action lawsuit over interest rates
"Bill Me Later is facing a class-action lawsuit claiming the online sales processor skirts California consumer protection laws to hike its interest rates.

Kyle Sawyer, a Bill Me Later customer in Torrance, Calif., filed the lawsuit Jan. 6 in U.S. District Court for the northern district of California. The complaint accuses Timonium-based Bill Me Later, a subsidiary of online auctioneer eBay Inc., of using a middleman to avoid California law prohibiting exorbitant credit penalties and interest rates."

Mobile Banking Updates - Feb 22

CTIA Announces Industry Guidelines for Mobile Financial Services
"The CTIA has published “Best Practices and Guidelines for Mobile Financial Services (MFS)” - which were unanimously approved by America’s leading wireless carrier companies. According to the CTIA, 'this voluntary initiative was developed to provide consumers with a high level of safety and security for mobile banking, commerce and payments products and services.'"

Fiserv Finds Banks Interested in Offering Mobile Deposit Capture
"Fiserv has announced the results of recent market research that quantified the interest among banks and credit unions for mobile deposit capture and gauged their views on potential customer acceptance. Mobile deposit capture is an extension of remote deposit capture (RDC) that enables checks to be deposited anywhere via a mobile phone equipped with a camera to create and send an image of the check."

Nokia partnering with Qualcomm
"Nokia and Qualcomm have announced they will work together on 3G smartphone products, initially for North America. The partners aim at the remaining growth segment of the handset market."

The Mobile Wallet — Conflicting Business models and Evolution
"I just finished a report on the evolution of the mobile wallet, something we see as a key facet to the development of mobile payments. We’re finding that present market conditions and models demonstrate a lack of a business case for investment on the part of carriers to get truly capable, holistic solutions out there. This generally manifests itself in two ways…"

Not Your Father's Bank: Building Online Banking for Gen Y
"Growing up in a world immersed in digital technologies, members of Generation Y have the highest of expectations on how they want to interact with their banks online. Born at the dawn of the digital age in the early 1980s, the oldest among Generation Y have never known a world without personal computers and video games."

Aite Group ranks M-Com and Fiserv as a Top "Triple Play" provider
"Aite Group, LLC, a leading independent research and advisory firm focused on business, technology and regulatory issues and their impact on the financial services industry, has ranked M-Com, the technology behind Fiserv Mobile MoneySM, as a top "triple-play" mobile banking provider."

Mobile Banking News

Here are a few articles/links that I've recently discovered or are worth revisiting:

mBanking Blog by Hannes van Rensburg

FAME - "The Forum to Advance the Mobile ExperienceT (FAMET) is a member advocacy group and strategic authority leadership initiative to accelerate marketing programs and research around advancing the wireless user experience."

Microsoft, Sirit To Add NFC Technology To Windows Mobile - "Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and RFID vendor Sirit plan to collaborate on adding proximity technologies to the Windows Mobile operating system."

Walked Into A Wall Lately? You May Be a Mobile Pioneer. - "According to new research from InsightExpress, a leading provider of digital marketing research, mobile consumers can be segmented into three new and distinct behavioral profiles: Mobile Pioneers, Mobile Wannabes and Mobile Traditionalists. This research, the third installment from the companys ongoing mobile research program, indicates that when it comes to usage, two ends of the mobile spectrum exist."

Qualcomm buys Irish mobile ad targeting company - "With the acquisition, Qualcomm hopes to help network operators deliver more personalized advertising and other content to mobile phone subscribers. Xiam's main product, Mobile Personal Offers System (MPOS), personalizes mobile services by profiling subscribers and offering them content and advertising that it considers most relevant to them."

Buxfer - Mobile Money Manager - "Buxfer has gotten some attention lately as one of the first two sites to use Google Gears for Mobile which lets you use web sites even when you have no network connection."

Mobile Banking, Qualcomm & Open Handset Alliance

Much like everyone else in the industry I was shocked by this mornings news that Qualcomm had acquired Firethorn, but within a short period time I was back in my groove and my day proceeded as usual. Yet, periodically my mind kept going back to the story and I couldn't figure out why.

Then on the drive home it hit me. This is not the first time Qualcomm has been in the news recently. It was just over a week ago that Qualcomm was listed as a member of the new Open Handset Alliance spear-headed by the team at Google.

Interesting...

Qualcomm to Acquire Mobile Banking Leader Firethorn

"SAN DIEGO, Nov. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Qualcomm Incorporated , a leading developer and innovator of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and other advanced wireless technologies, today announced it has agreed to acquire Atlanta-based Firethorn Holdings, LLC, an industry-leading mobile banking enabler. The addition of Firethorn's expertise in the financial industry and key relationships with wireless operators, financial institutions and payment processors supports Qualcomm's broader strategy to enable end-to-end wireless services that enhance the mobile experience and to deliver compelling applications that drive increased consumer adoption of new mobile data services. Qualcomm will pay approximately $210 million in cash for Firethorn. Completion of the acquisition, which is subject to certain closing conditions, is expected within 30 days. Click to read the full article.