The Egg service plans to introduce a price comparison service between online stores, as well as allowing WAP access to the Egg shop. The First-e WAP service was launched in May 2000 and is the only WAP service that requires users to have their own ISP account. This has the effect of divesting the bank [...]
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The degree to which banking services will be compromised by non-banks can be gauged by the extent to which components of banking infrastructure have already outgrown bank control. For example, in the USA, more than two thirds of credit accounts are handled by non-banks. As for the specific question of m-payment development it is worth [...]
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Multichannel delivery is a difficult service to deploy since it requires the coordination of disparate back end systems, the collection and analysis of customer information as well as device/security issues. - Partnerships with operators that allow early visibility in a hitherto `closed' market model that is expected to give way to the current fixed internet paradigm of open access. Other mobile content providers offer partnership potential through large fixed internet customer bases. Models include: - Closed: all banking services are under the control of the service provider, currently the operator. Users are unable to access the service outside the `walled garden' of the operator.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Between 1995 and 1999 a simple operator-customer relationship existed. But now the development of the Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) and strategic partners such as banks and infomediaries have the potential to change both the value chain and the relationship with the customer. The heavy debts incurred by many European operators as a result of the 3G license bids will induce them to make many more cost/profit sharing partnerships as a means of reducing risk and operational costs. One2One in the UK lost market share to Orange and Vodafone. But it has an additional 670,000 customers on its network as a result of a deal with Virgin Mobile (MVNO). MVNOs with strong brands, such as Virgin, can reach segments that existing operators cannot. MVNOs could launch prepaid services for particular social, economic, gender and ethnic groups. Operators need to take a holistic approach to prepaid services. No single department can tackle the challenges that are described in this report. Below is a list of all the departments that are required for marketing and managing prepaid mobile services:
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Initially, the GSM standard provided a way of communicating short alphanumeric messages from one mobile handset to another mobile handset. The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) introduced two different types of short messaging: - point-to-point--which requires a dedicated link between two parties (defined in GSM 03.40) - cell broadcast (or point-to-omnipoint)--which takes place between the network and all users within a cell or service area (defined in GSM 03.41). The short message point-to-point service (SMS) comprises two basic services: - short message mobile-terminated, or SMS-MT, which denotes the capability of the GSM system to deliver a short message to the recipient's handset and provide a delivery report to the sender - short message mobile-originated, or SMS-MO, which denotes the capability of the GSM system to transfer a short message submitted by a mobile handset to another handset, GSM modem or server (3) and provide information about the delivery to the sender.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The future of banks has been subject to scrutiny since the internet accelerated the potential for disintermediation - the demise of traditional retail channels. The speed to market inherent in the development of electronic delivery channels involves a `launch and learn' attitude antithetical to the end-to-end certainty that banks possessed in their customer relationships. Traditionally banks have leveraged their unique regulatory position as deposit takers and their access to payment gateways to strike deals with suppliers and corporate customers. Relationship ownership is under siege in the mobile channel and banks fear the repercussions of relegation to the back of the value chain. The construction of the mobile channel for banking services disrupts banks' customer control--issues to be confronted include:
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Operators are now extremely concerned about their growing dependence on current prepaid services and some are taking steps to reduce their prepaid base. In the UK, all four operators have adjusted their policy to place greater emphasis on postpaid customers. They have increased the price of their prepaid packages to a minimum of 69.99 (from 39.99) and at the same time cut the level of bonuses paid to retailers for each new prepaid subscriber. Operators in Denmark have also made a switch away from prepaid and have seen significant improvements in profitability as a result. But operators cannot turn back the clock. Prepaid is now entrenched in most markets and it would be unrealistic to aim for the Finnish model (where prepaid is virtually non-existent).
Monday, January 5, 2009
Although this post aims to emphasize the cooperation between banks and operators that characterizes the development of the mobile channel, focus will be maintained on basic banking services and mobile payments only. As such, this embryonic stage of mobile commerce activity can be better assessed by appropriating mobile banking within banks' multi-channel distribution mix, while m-payments, the key enabler for mature mobile functionality, emphasizes the need for partnership (between bank, operator and credit card company) so vital to m-commerce deployment. Indeed, m-payments offer greater potential for differentiation: the prospect of the wireless wallet supersedes the basic offer of mobile banking, which is often an extension of a bank's internet channel. By the end of 2008 just under half of Europe's top financial services are anticipated to offer mobile services, with roughly 35% in Asia Pacific. All markets have witnessed early adopters, although development considerations in terms of technology (SMS, WAP, XML) and device (mobile terminals, handheld devices, PDAs) render mobile banking a non-standardized application.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Because voice telephony remains the most widely used telecom service, the use of audio and speech can be a positive differentiator for alternative dialogues in a mobile campaign. Speech and audio can be brought into mobile marketing campaign dialogues through the use of IVR technology. IVR is a telephony technology in which someone uses a touchtone telephone to interact with an application to acquire information or supply data. For example, banks use IVR systems so that their customers can receive up-to-date account information via a voice menu that can be navigated by pressing the phone's keys. The user's interaction with the application is predetermined by what the IVR system will allow the user access to--this is referred to as "call flow". Call flow implementations are usually platform-dependent and performed by IVR programmers. Voice recognition technology has been added to IVR products to allow user interaction by recognizing a finite number of audio commands.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Mobile handset manufacturers provide the technology foundation for the creative possibilities in mobile marketing. Common technologies used today in commercial projects for mobile marketing include interactive voice response (IVR), SMS, WAP and MMS. An interesting emerging technology that we will not cover but is worth mentioning is the Wireless Village instant messaging and presence service (IMPS). IMPS includes four key features: presence, instant messaging, groups and shared content. Handsets with IMPS support ...
Thursday, January 29, 2009
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