Bank of America NFC

Interesting strategy to go with MicroSD based card, but to put this into a new battery cover and avoid the issues with ugly stickers on the phone. Unfortunately, will block out non blackberry users and will create challenges as BoFA tries to expand the user base. Replicating the strategy will need deals with each and every manufacturer to build and supply similar covers for their own phones.

Original article from engadget

The choice of blackberry is interesting as it potentially opens up the market for BoFA to enable their corporate commercial cards for this service and provide an interesting enhancement to allow them to position against competition in the extremely competitive space. 


Also interesting is the capability to load multiple cards and to use different cards for different types of expenses ( personal, business etc ). 

Mobile for Corporates

All the buzz around mobile payments and financial services seems to be focused on the consumer space. There must be opportunities around leveraging this platform for Large Corporates and SME's, but I don't hear too much on this area. Some possibilities ?

• Enhanced security for validation of payments instructions sent in electronically or manually.
• Alerts to treasurers / CFO's / Business owners on high value transactions - whether incoming or outgoing - with limits set by the individuals.
• Alerts to SME sector on status of transactions
• Alerts on major market movements- Interest rates, Foreign exchange rates, Stock prices, Corporate actions.
• Corporate card alerts and reminders - similar to what is already available on personal cards.
• Quick look access to balance positions - across accounts , across countries - a portal onto Electronic Banking
• Access to research and articles - although have seen some of the high end investment banks and Wealth Managers moving into this space.

As with other initiatives around corporates, unlikely that there will be incremental revenues generate by this capability, but definitely a nice "Bell/Whistle" to distinguish your offering from your competitors - especially in the increasingly commoditized product space.

Revenues flows will come from B2C and B2SmallB space

• Payments to temporary employees 
• B2C payments - with alerts to beneficiaries
• Payments to small suppliers 
• Benefits payments
• Reward payments/cash-backs/'Mail-in" rebates

Basically leveraging capability being developed around the consumer space and packaging service offering to large clients to enable their access to this space. Haven't seen any of the large banks making any moves in this space. Looks like this space is owned by their Retail Bank arms with little effort on cross fertilisation/cross sell.

Will keep looking to see if I can find out more

Emptying the wallet ( actually pockets )

Ran a quick check to see how the Iphone has lightened my wallet/pockets

• Media Player - Gone
• Faded photos of wife/kids/dogs/holidays - Gone
• Hand-held gaming device - Gone
• Blackberry - Gone
• Dictaphone - Gone
• Point and Shoot camera - Gone
• Pocket Diary - Gone
• Pocket TV - Gone
• Railway guide - Gone
• Restaurant guide - Gone
• Language guides - Gone
• Golf Course yardage books - Gone
• Map - Gone
• Travel Guidebook - Gone
• 
  

But.......

• Loyalty Cards ( Airline, Store ) - Partially Gone
• Driving licence - Still all there
• Cash - Still all there
• Credit Cards- Still all there !
• Credit card receipts - Still all there ( except for my Apple Store purchases)
• House Keys - Still all there

I knew there was still more to be done......Need some bright people to attack the final frontier.

PS : Money is also gone after paying for the Iphone and data pack - but that is another story

UK Mobile payments

Phew- it is a NFC enabled SIM. Will be interesting to see if this is locked into Barclays/Orange or whether other providers can jump on the bandwagon once the handset is NFC enabled. Smart phones should provide an opportunity for other players to build applications to use this capability

Barclays and Orange

Mobile Payments Uk

Just saw news that Orange is rolling out NFC based Mobile payments in the UK in partnership with Barclaycard . Article on Which.co.uk

Great news, but not too sure if this works only off the SIM or needs another Chip installed in the phone. The Orange site and press release were as clear as mud. Hope it is the former, if we are to see widespread roll-out.

Surprised we are not seeing more of this from other MNO's.

Mobile Payments - the last Inch

Started reading up on mobile payments/ mobile wallets- fascinated by the opportunities in this space. The activity around the best solution to enable NFC is interesting, but my money (and fond hopes) is on the work being done by Giesecke & Devrient with NFC enabled SIM cards over other possible solutions (Micro SD, Device embedded chips, Stickers!)

•  Every Phone needs a SIM. Every Phone can use a SIM. You can take your SIM from phone to phone as you upgrade/downgrade. (Micro SIMs, GSM and CDMA notwithstanding!)
•  Putting NFC on the SIM will ensure the fastest possible rollout, especially into emerging markets where Mobile banking is a necessity and not a fashion. The Carriers would have an incentive to replace SIM’s for all existing subscribers to stop them migrating to competition to get this facility. Believe network operators have already been asking for this in order to get a foot into the payments space!
•  Subscribers will buy in as there would be no additional costs related to upgrading your phone. Much as I like the concept, can’t see myself buying yet another expensive phone just to get a mobile wallet!
•  A wider rollout of capability will incentivize retailers, merchant acquirers, and terminal manufacturers to fund the upgrade POS capability. Nothing focuses attention more than having lots of people walking in and asking for this capability - threatening to take their business elsewhere if you don’t. Most of us nowadays would avoid restaurants/shops that don’t accept cards as carrying huge wads of cash around has gone out of fashion. Can easily see this happening in other areas of retail as mobile wallets become prevalent.
•  A supplier/carrier independent NFC capability incentivises wallet/payment/card providers to come in and offer application based services competing on pricing, flexibility and convenience. The user would have a wider choice and the ability to use multiple providers at the same time. If we are smart, NFC will become a utility – much like WIFI and 3G and simply a platform to provide the last bit of connectivity to the development of mobile payment systems.

Frankly, most of us carrying multiple cards in our pockets and would find it less than appealing to be restricted to a single card on a MicroSD/Card Issuer solution. On stickers, the less said the better – with all due respect to Bling and to a few banks toying with this idea - why on earth would I want to take a beautifully designed phone ( Confession – I own an Iphone and an HTC Desire ) and put all sorts of bright, multicolored stickers all over it to use your services !

Watching the space closely to learn more…. Comments welcome