Two dozen retailers, including Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., are developing a mobile payment platform, the Wall Street Journal reports (paid subscription).
According to the WSJ, sources say merchants "are not satisfied with the mobile-payments products that have been launched so far, which limit the merchants to providing personalized offers and coupons." The sources also mentioned the issue of security and malicious applications in Android.
Steve Mott, a consultant who is working on the new project, says some of the merchants think they can build a better mobile payment system than those already available. He also says merchants are better equipped to design systems for their own customers.
Though the article is sparse on details, any new mobile payment system would compete against systems such as Isis and Google Wallet.
I'm willing to accept that some retailers honestly believe the mobile payment systems already available aren't sufficiently secure or do not offer the right mix of features. But I also think this isn't so much about helping customers as helping the merchants.
I think the merchants involved in this project are concerned that Google and the cellular operators could establish too close a relationship with consumers and control access to customer data. I think this is about merchants wanting more control over customers and believing they can generate more revenue with their own mobile payment venture.
As I've said in previous blogs, this year will be a time of confusion for mobile payment participants, as well as consumers in the United States. And even though participants proclaim how valuable these systems will be for consumers, they're mostly about sucking up customer data and making more money.
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previous posts from Alan Reiter's Wireless Web World
Beginning today, Google Offers is sponsoring free WiFi at eight US shopping malls and discounted WiFi at 16 US airports. The service is provided by Boingo Wireless, but there's a downside to the promotion.
Dunkin' Donuts has released a mobile payments application for Android and iOS devices that's similar to the Starbucks app, but with an extra feature of gifting. The Dunkin' Donuts software got me thinking about store apps versus platform mobile wallet apps.
The CTIA is changing its fall conference and exhibition to focus exclusively on enterprises. The event has evolved from giving equal weight to consumer and business issues to emphasizing business.
With the enterprise-only target, the show has changed its name from CTIA Enterprise and Applications to MobileCON. I think it would have been better to use a title like MobileCON Enterprise, rather than a generic name that doesn't highlight the business focus.
MobileCON will be held October 9-11 at the San Diego Convention Center, with pre-conference seminars and tutorials on October 8.
Google is laying off 4,000 Motorola Mobility employees, closing a third of its 94 global offices, and tightening the unit's focus on smartphones, the New York Times reports. In the medium-to-long term, this could be good for Motorola and Google, enterprises, and consumers.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
New tools like laptops, tablets, smartphone, and wireless connectivity let us work from San Diego to Katmandu, and anywhere in between. But time management remains a problem.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
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