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Rory Cellan-Jones

Mobile money - coming soon?

  • Rory Cellan-Jones
  • 14 Nov 08, 15:45 GMT

The idea that your mobile phone could become a digital wallet has been around for a long time. Here's an object that we carry with us wherever we go. If it could be loaded up with digital cash wouldn't that make life easier - for the users, for retailers who wouldn't need to handle cash, and for the network operators who might eventually become players in the banking industry?

But, in the UK at least, mobile money has been a long time coming - in fact, we're making less progress in this area than at least one African country. In Kenya, a system for transferring money between people with mobiles, Mpesa, has been a big success. It enables migrant workers, for instance, to send money home without the trouble of a long bus journey carrying cash.

Now today comes news of another attempt to create a mobile currency. It's called and the press release describes it as "making mobile payments a reality today". Well, almost.

I went through a lengthy and quite complex sign-up process to try Beem out - understandably that involves a number of security hurdles - and eventually managed to load 拢10 from my bank account onto my phone. The idea is that you can then pay for various goods and services simply by sending an SMS.

So now I'd like to "beem" a payment somewhere. The only trouble is, there appears to be nothing to buy. Beem says a number of companies have signed up - including pizza restaurants and a taxi service. But when I clicked on my area on their website it showed only the pizza firm and that was marked "coming soon".

What Beem - or any other digital money service - needs is a network effect. Once lots of retailers are signed up it becomes more worthwhile for customers to adopt the system and that then encourages more retailers to sign up. Mobile money has proved its worth in countries where many people don't use - or don't trust - the banking system. But we're not quite in that situation here yet. Meanwhile, there is 拢10 trapped in my phone and looking for a way out.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    All good, great and lovely; but I don't want to have even more of my (hard earned) cash tied up in some other person's payment system,

    I have 拢25 locked up in Starbucks, 拢15 in Costa, a huge 拢45 in Oyster Card (and I'm not even a Londoner and so on.

    Whoever works out an easy to use payment system that does not require me to pre-pay, if you like, will be a very rich person...

    Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)

  • Comment number 2.

    that is a good idea!

    Complain about this comment (Comment number 2)

  • Comment number 3.

    There are a number of very handy technologies around and none of them are gaining a foothold, probably because none of them solve the whole problem.

    Knowing that I'm going to get shot down for the London-centric solution...

    Linking Oyster cards, pay and wave technology and some sort of tech that allows bigger payments would do it. Oyster has a use already, pay and wave for transactions under 拢10 is convinient but I can't replace my wallet until I can make bigger payments too, I presume this would be where the payment system in the above article comes in.

    Stick a chip that can do all that in a mobile phone and roll it out in London where Londoners will initially use it as an Oyster card replacement.

    Now you have the momentum, once enough people have it coffee shops and bars (for the under 拢10 payments) followed by stores (for the bigger payments) will follow suit and as soon as they do in London, it gets rolled out to the rest of the country.

    Complain about this comment (Comment number 3)

  • Comment number 4.

    This scheme has been in place in Japan for years now and is called the Edy system. Simple, easy to charge in a convenience store (put the money in the machine and the phone on a receiver and the money is charged), and then payment is just done through swiping the phone over a reader.

    Complain about this comment (Comment number 4)

  • Comment number 5.

    Rory:
    I think it should as soon as possible....

    Complain about this comment (Comment number 5)

 

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