Mobile phones have increasingly become tools that consumers use for banking, payments, budgeting, and shopping. Given the rapid pace of developments in the area of mobile finance, the Federal Reserve Board began conducting annual surveys of consumers’ use of mobile financial services in 2011. This 78-page report, “Consumers and Mobile Financial Services” (March, 2015) examines trends in the adoption and use of mobile banking, payments, and shopping behavior and how the emergence of mobile financial services affects consumers’ interaction with financial institutions.
Polar Mobile chosen one of Canada’s select “Companies-to-Watch” in the 2010 Deloitte Technology Fast 50™ Awards
Polar Mobile has won a spot on the 2010 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 “Companies-to-Watch” Awards, one of four separate awards categories that make up the 2010 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards.
The company provides a platform for an end-to-end solution that enables Publishers to rapidly launch mobile Apps that work across all major smartphones (iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, etc.). With a key focus on the News and Sports media verticals.
The Companies-to-Watch Award honours early-stage technology companies in business less than five years. These companies exemplify many of the winning characteristics of Deloitte Technology Fast 50 ranked companies, which are judged using a longer track record.
“Companies-to-Watch award winners frequently go on to score high rankings in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 once they have a five-year track record,” said John Ruffolo, National Leader, Technology, Media & Telecommunications Industry Group, Deloitte. “Polar Mobile has quickly distinguished itself for its innovative technology and entrepreneurship and this award recognizes its potential as a future leader in the Canadian technology industry.”
“We are honoured to be included in this year’s ranking among other very accomplished companies”, says Kunal Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Polar Mobile. “The Polar Mobile team is to credit for their tremendous efforts and dedication into building this into a world-class company in less than three years. We are excited for the next three years!”
The majority of Companies-to-Watch winners are global leaders in technology sectors that did not exist five years ago. To win the award, companies must display the kind of management expertise and superior technology that mark a successful early-stage company poised for continued growth. To qualify for the Companies-to-Watch Award, candidates must have been operating less than five years. They must also be headquartered in Canada and devote a significant portion of their operating revenues to creating proprietary technology and/or intellectual property.
Source: Polar Mobile
Samsung Announces NFC Chip with Embedded Flash Memory
Samsung Electronics announced plans to mass produce a new NFC chip featuring embedded flash memory.
Slated for production early next year, the chips enables contactless mobile payment at the point-of-sale or in public transit applications, as well as peer-to-peer data exchange.
via NFCNews
Mobile Shopping for Holiday 2010 Skyrockets
With some Black Friday reports coming in from retailers, anecdotal reports have shown significant increases in mobile shopping activity following Thanksgiving this year.
According to the WSF blog, Ruelala.com attributed 19% of sales this weekend to mobile phones, a 10x increase over last year. Another online retailer, Gilt.com said that about 15% of total revenue came from mobile commerce over the same period, while eBay reported a 30% rise in mobile activity over the previous year.
In Singapore, Trial NFC Mobile Payment Solution for StarHub Subscribers
A select group of StarHub mobile plan subscribers from DBS, a Singapore bank offering services in corporate, SME, consumer and wholesale banking in Asia and the Middle East, will be part of a trial of the company’s NFC Mobile Payment Solution for everyday mobile payments.
The trial, which is expected to last 8 months, is jointly organized by DBS Bank, EZ-Link, Gemalto, MasterCard and StarHub. The service adds an N-Flex solution, which will transform the regular handsets into NFC-enabled mobile phones without any change to the device. Implementable on SIM cards across multiple mobile handsets, the N-Flex solution helps in standardization of the handsets supporting NFC. The solution supports the Single Wire Protocol (SWP), which has been endorsed by the GSM Association.
StarHub is a provider of information, communications and entertainment services to both consumer and corporate markets of Singapore. The company operates a fast two-way HSPA+ mobile network in the country that delivers up to 21Mbps data speed to the customers of its GSM network; and also runs a HFC network for delivering cable TV services such as high-def TV and on-demand services and high-speed residential broadband services to the consumers as well.
via: M2M: StarHub Enables DBS Customers to Use NFC Mobile Payment Solution.
PayPal Looks for Growth Opportunities in Mobile Payment
PayPal’s growth is outstripping parent company eBay’s, due in part to the rapidly expanding mobile payment business. The company expects about $700 million in mobile transactions this year, though the amount still represents only about 1% of PayPal’s total transaction volume. Currently PayPal is working several angles of mobile payment, including a partnership with Bling Nation.
via NYTimes.com.
Gemalto Seeks Growth in NFC Market with NXP Partnership
Working toward growing its presence in Near Field Communications (NFC) payment systems, Gemalto has entered into an agreement with NXP Semiconductors N.V., as well as the mobile payments trial in Singapore.
Gemalto’s activities range from the development of software applications through the design and production of secure personal devices such as smart cards, SIMs, e-passports and tokens, to the deployment of managed services for our customers. The company has more than 10,000 employees and 2009 revenues of €1.654 billion.
The agreement with NXP, calls for Gemalto to integrate NXP’s MIFARE technology into its Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC), which will expand the mobile contactless payment market because MIFARE is one of the most ubiquitous mobile contactless services and Gemalto’s SIMs are used in a large number of mobile devices.
The agreement enables Gemalto to complement its existing NFC application portfolio with MIFARE DESFire and MIFARE Plus technology for its UICC security solutions. As a result, mobile operators and service providers will be able to offer a broad range of mobile contactless services thanks to the widened availability of UICC cards incorporating MIFARE.
This is the most widespread contactless technology worldwide and provides high levels of performance, flexibility and security in public transportation, access management, event ticketing and customer loyalty programs.
“MIFARE is already at the heart of contactless infrastructures around the world,” said Henri Ardevol,
vice president and general manager, secure transactions, NXP Semiconductors. “We are proud to
collaborate with Gemalto to offer the convenience of this technology to a new target of 5 billion mobile
phone users.”
“Adding the MIFARE capability to Gemalto’s NFC application portfolio is key for the mass deployment of
mobile contactless,” added Rémi de Fouchier, senior vice president, Trusted Services Management,
Gemalto. “We are enthused that more and more consumers around the world will enjoy the simplicity
and convenience of waving their mobile phone for couponing and stored value payment and transport
services.”
Source: RCR Wireless News, Gemalto
Commidea Processes 80% of Contactless Transactions in UK
Commidea, a leading card payment processing solution provider in the UK, has announced that one million contactless transactions with a total value of more than £4 million have been processed using Commidea solutions so far this year. This means that over 80% of contactless transactions in the UK are processed by Commidea.
As Commidea and industry numbers indicate, contactless payments are on the rise. More consumers are ‘tapping’ their contactless cards at convenience retail and food outlets to pay for transactions under £15. The transactions take less than half a second and eliminate the need for handling cash, therefore reducing queue times and helping to increase sales.
In addition to the emerging trend of contactless payments, customer transaction volumes across Commidea’s systems as a whole have increased by 60% from this time last year. An average of approximately eight million transactions are carried out each week using Commidea’s card payment processing systems online and at customer locations including Blockbuster, EAT, TGI FRiDAYS, Lush and Thomas Cook.
These statistics illustrate Commidea’s growing customer base and the continuing trend of consumers using contactless, credit and debit cards instead of cash for everyday transactions.
“Contactless payments are on the rise particularly in the convenience payment sector and the figures show Commidea’s technology is at the forefront of facilitating this trend,” said Ian Rutland, Director of Marketing and Communication at Commidea. “We have always provided secure, easy-to-use technology for our customers across the retail and hospitality industry and this commitment continues in new payment types such as contactless. Our solutions help retailers to meet customer demand for convenience by accepting card payments for items ranging from smaller ‘impulse’ buys up to luxury and holiday purchases.”
Source: RealWire
America Movil Estimates 50 Million Potential “Mobile Banking” Market in Mexico
Latin America’s largest wireless carrier, American Movil, will offer financial services to about 50 million people in Mexico who have mobile phones and no bank accounts, according to American Movil CFO Carlos Garcia Moreno. “There are many more telephones than there are bank accounts, and it’s important to bank all of those people that already have a phone,” Garcia Moreno, 53, said. “The numbers are enormous.”
With financial services, America Movil is taking advantage of its wireless Internet network to seek new opportunities for growth in Latin America, as the number of mobile-phone users nears 100 percent of the population. The company told investors last week it expects to boost sales by 6 percent to 8 percent each year through 2014, compared with an increase of 5.3 percent last quarter from a year earlier.
via America Movil CFO Sees 50 Million Potential Mexico Mobile Banking Users – Bloomberg.
Indian Banks Introduce Instant Mobile Retail PaymentsIndi
A new mobile retail payment system backed by some large banks in India will allow fund transfers between different banks and the use of SMS to make transactions from even low-end phones — features that are expected to make the system popular with consumers.
Because the Interbank Mobile Payment Service IMPS from National Payments Corporation of India NPCI can support transactions from even low-end phones, the service will be accessible to a larger number of Indian consumers, A.P. Hota, managing director and CEO of NPCI, said on Tuesday.
via Indian Banks Introducing Instant Mobile Retail Payments – PCWorld.
Mobile Phones Leapfrog Traditional Financial Institutions in Developing World
When a devastating earthquake struck Haiti in January, phones enabled Haitians to withdraw cash at local banks or access account funds to pay for groceries.
The spawning of a “mobile money” market in Haiti illustrates how mobile funds-transfer applications could develop elsewhere. Now card companies and mobile carriers in various parts of the world are coming together to meld the popularity of cell phones with access to financial services.
via Worlds of Differences in Mobile Money Strategy – American Banker Article.