Coming Top 10 Uses for Mobiles

You don't have to be a believer or supporter of "mobile payments" to guess that, at some point, mobile devices will be used for many "commerce" applications that turn a "communications" device into a "transaction" device.

In 2011, Gartner analysts predicted worldwide mobile payment users would surpass 141.1 million, a 38.2 percent increase from 2010, when mobile payment users reached 102.1 million.
Worldwide mobile payment volume was forecasted to total $86.1 billion, up 75.9 percent from 2010 volume of $48.9 billion. Gartner forecast

Money transfers and prepaid top-ups clearly drove transaction volumes in developing markets. These are seen as the "killer apps" in developing markets, where people value the convenience of sending money to relatives and topping up mobile accounts. This is most obvious in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where these two services were expected to account for 54 percent and 32 percent of all transactions in 2011, Gartner said.

It might take until 2014 before retail mobile payments really becomes a mass market behavior in developed markets, though.

The top mobile apps, though, will show the growing importance of commerce and payment-related mobile apps, whether in 2012, as Gartner originally projected in 2009, or by 2014, which seems a more reasonable scenario at this point.


The top 10 consumer mobile applications in 2012 were projected to include money transfer, mobile payment and mobile advertising. 

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PayPal to Expand Home Depot Retail Payments Test

PayPal is expanding its test of PayPal retail payments with Home Depot from the limited "friends and family" test it has been conducting, to about 50 Home Depot locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. PayPal expands Home Depot test 


Up to this point, the pilot customers (said to be PayPal employees, only)  have been able to pay for items using their PayPal account at Home Depot’s point of sale systems. 


They can either use a pin code on their mobile phone or a  PayPal credit card that can be swiped.


PayPal has been agnostic about actual transaction technologies, so the test is probably more oriented towards assessing end user demand and preferences, more than the particular payment technology.

The logical approach, no matter which technology is chosen, is to link an existing PayPal account with the mobile device. 

In-App or On-Site Commerce is the Ultimate Goal for Many Business Sites

Many observers would argue that the ultimate goal for providers of business and consumer voice services is to make voice and communications a feature of virtually every business application, and most consumer applications.


In the same way, many of us would argue that the ultimate goal for many business apps and sites is the ability to "sell things" directly from the site, which implies a payment mechanism.


Payment processing arguably is a lot easier when it is integrated with any application, rather than an external function. That is why the notion of "in-app" order and payment processing is so important. 


Card.io has created a new version of its software development kit that adds the payment feature to any mobile app.

Any app developer can download the SDK, integrate with their app (iOS or Android), and start accepting payments. There's no merchant account, and payments are deposited directly into a bank account or PayPal account. There are no monthly fees or setup fees, and app providers pay card.io only when a customer conducts a transaction.

The fee is 3.5 percent of the transaction amount, plus 30 cents.


The new feature means any app can accept credit card payments. The card.io feature could be used by any app to allow users to split the tab at lunch, pay a friend back for gas on that road trip, or make a craigslist purchase. Card.io introduces full payment system

Mobile a Work in Progress for "Prestige" Brands

Prestige fashion brands have been inconsistent in their adoption of mobile commerce and other mobile features, a study sponsored by L2 Research has found. That mobile remains a work in progress should not be surprising.

Mobile commerce and marketing encompasses a wide range of processes, channels and business objectives and functions. At this early stage, it might be unusual indeed if retailer programs and end user behavior were to produce an upheaval in terms of customer behavior or business results.

About 66 percent of prestige brands maintain a mobile-optimized site, and about 33 percent of these mobile development efforts do not yet support commerce.

Fewer than 20 percent of brands have created unique app content for the iPad and other tablets, a fact some will say is a missed opportunity as these devices register high usage among affluent consumers.

About 16 percent of brands have yet to develop a mobile-optimized site or mobile site, the study finds.

The study also suggests that mobile searches disproportionately are conducted by users with a higher than average propensity to buy luxury products, the study suggests.

This observation underscores the urgency to adapt search engine optimization, email marketing, and other digital efforts for mobile platforms, the study suggests.


As a product class, tablet devices have proven a boon to m-commerce. Tablet shoppers demonstrate a conversion rate of four to five percent compared with three percent on a PC.

Even when compared directly to smart phones, 25 percent of “dual owners” surveyed by Ipsos demonstrate a preference to purchase on sites while using a tablet.

Although 37 percent of all prestige brands have a presence on both the iPhone and iPad, only 16 percent have created a unique experience for iPad users rather than simply replicating the same app across both devices. Given the dramatic difference in screen sizes, that will not continue to be the case, one might argue.

“Location” also is the defining and unique smart phone capability. But we are early in the process of adapting marketing and commerce to user location in real time.

Only five percent of Americans use geo-local apps (check in services, for example) at least once a month, but these active users represent a high-value demographic. They skew younger, register higher income, and are twice as likely to share product information.

Also, 14 percent of global monthly Google searches for prestige brands originate from mobile devices, which is significant given that non-computer devices account for less than seven percent of traffic in the U .S. and less than five percent of traffic in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and U.K. markets.

Mobile efforts often also are marketing or commerce “silos,” isolated from other marketing channels. Only 28 percent of the brands in the Index are developing mobile apps promote them on their main sites. But 82 percent of the brands link to their Facebook pages and 66 percent to their Twitter accounts.

Nor are older communication channels unimportant, compared to the newer tools. During the second half of 2011, mobile email open rates increased 34 percent, with consumers opening 23 percent of all emails on their mobile devices.

About 78 percent of the surveyed prestige brands engage in email marketing, only 24 percent have links to mobile-optimized versions of their email content, and 55 percent opt to provide
links to plain HTML versions.

New Mobile Payment Firms Will Not Displace Banks Easily

Some genuinely believe that banks are in danger of serious displacement by mobile payment and mobile banking competitors. It will be harder than many believe. Banking executives will respond; many already are doing so. 


Beyond that, it is difficult to dislodge "trusted providers" in just about any business you can think of. Observers have been predicting the imminent demise of traditional TV distributors or creators for a decade or more. It has failed to materialize, if the measurement is revenue, rather than viewing hours.


Many veterans of the U.S. competitive local exchange carrier business will agree that upending the leading suppliers in the telecom business has proven to be devilishly hard. Some would argue it has proven difficult for all contenders except the cable companies, at least in the consumer market. 


There arguably has been more success in the business customer segments. 


In the emerging mobile payments and mobile wallet businesses, even players as large as Google and Isis (AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA) are working with banks, rather than trying to displace them. 


PayPal and Square are more directly threats to banks in the ecosystem, but only to a certain extent. 

Banks will be harder to dislodge than many believe.

Don't be Surprised if Google 1 -Gbps Network Gets Low Buy Rates

There is some uncertainty about the construction time table for Google's 1-Gbps fiber access network being built in Kansas City, Kan. and Kansas City, Mo.


That is a relatively trivial issue, though. The bigger issue is whether any significant number of users actually will buy the service.


With a small handful of exceptions, fiber to home uptake globally seems relatively restrained, suggesting that, for most consumers, what they can buy on the older networks provides a value-price relationship that is good enough. 


Under Google's deal with the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities, the municipal power and water provider that owns the utility poles, the company has the option of attaching fiber either in the space reserved for telecommunications for the standard pole-attachment fee or in the electrical supply space for free (although the latter is costlier because it requires more highly skilled technicians). Kansas City Fiber on Track 



Google and officials in Kansas City, Kan., said Google remains on schedule to go live for the first customers for Google's 1-Gbps network in the first half of 2012.


The Kansas City Star has reported that negotiations over pole attachment rates have slowed the build. Those of you familiar with fixed network construction projects will not be surprised by that report.

Disagreement about rates and conditions for pole attachments are an old, and possibly recurring, issue when new providers want to build new communication networks.

The bigger issue will come when Google actually unveils its prices and products. Some will note that other fiber to home services, in the United States and elsewhere, have not universally been met with high consumer demand.

In Germany, for example, FTTH take rates are just 0.4 percent, though one million homes are able to buy the service. Low take rates

Will Enterprise "Consumerization" Be More than a Device Issue?

Enterprise workers have been bringing their "consumer" tools and apps into the workplace for some time. Enterprises have started to respond by approving use of such devices, such as Apple products in the phone, PC and now tablet areas. 


Longer term, the issue is how much other movement will be seen in the applications area. Skype is among the best current examples of a consumer tool that is widely used within enterprises. So is LinkedIn. Also, Facebook and other social networks now are being adapted for enterprise purposes. 


For the moment, devices seem to be at the forefront, though.

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