FTC To Host Workshop on Mobile Payments

The Federal Trade Commission will host a workshop on April 26, 2012 in Washington,D.C. to examine the use of mobile payments in the marketplace and how this emerging technology impacts consumers.

This event will bring together consumer advocates, industry representatives, government regulators, technologists, and academics to examine a wide range of issues, including the technology and business models used in mobile payments, the consumer protection issues raised, and the experiences of other nations where mobile payments are more common. 


By some surveys, consumer trust issues remain significant.


Topics may include:

What different technologies are used to make mobile payments and how are the technologies funded (e.g., credit card, debit card, phone bill, prepaid card, gift card, etc.)?

Which technologies are being used currently in the United States, and which are likely to be used in the future?

What are the risks of financial losses related to mobile payments as compared to other forms of payment? What recourse do consumers have if they receive fraudulent, unauthorized, and inaccurate charges? Do consumers understand these risks? Do consumers receive disclosures about these risks and any legal protections they might have?

When a consumer uses a mobile payment service, what information is collected, by whom, and for what purpose? Are these data collection practices disclosed to consumers? Is the data protected?

How have mobile payment technologies been implemented in other countries, and with what success? What, if any, consumer protection issues have they faced, and how have they dealt with them?

What steps should government and industry members take to protect consumers who use mobile payment services?

To aid in preparation for the workshop, FTC staff welcomes comments from the public, including original research, surveys and academic papers.

Electronic comments can be made here. Paper comments should be mailed or delivered to: 600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., Room H-113 (Annex B), Washington, DC 20580.

The workshop is free and open to the public; it will be held at the FTC's Satellite Building Conference Center, 601 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.

FTC To Host Workshop

Technologists Versus Hollywood: A Long History

On January 17, 1984, by a five to four vote, the the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that video cassette recorders (VCRs) did not infringe on Hollywood studios’ copyrights. Keep in mind the issue here: it wasn't the use of a VCR to create and sell illegal copies of content; it was the existence and use of the devices.

The ruling in Sony Corp v. Universal City Studios, though, was an important but not unusual case of new technology being opposed by Hollywood and other content interests. In some ways, the clash is inevitable.

New technology nearly always us seen as enabling infringement of copyright of artists, even though, as content owners found out, technology also can create the foundation for new and large content markets. Though its day has passed, Blockbuster Video and the ability consumers now have to lawfully buy and own copies of movies and TV shows was the result of the decision.

Keep in mind that the technology in question was not even a consumer product. In 1976 a VCR costing $3,000, adjusting for inflation, about $11,360 in 2010 dollars. 

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But it also has to be said that the costly eight-year battle didn't help Sony, as its Betamax standard lost out to JVC’s rival VHS standard. Photocopiers provide another example of the tension. 


So do issues around game cartridge backup devices.

The point is that there is a long history of conflict between new enabling technologies and defenders of copyrights and intellectual property. There are legitimate issues, to be sure. But it also is true that copyright owners generally resist important new technologies related to the distribution of content and information.

In fact, some would say that the evolution of consumer consumption of video, for example, has been a story of ever-increasing ability of consumers to "watch what they want, when they want it," ever since the invention of the VCR.

Others would argue that better technology reduces consumer incentives to pirate content.


Technology and copyright interests often clash because copyright holders fear the new technologies will disrupt existing business models and will undermine intellectual property rights by enabling new forms of piracy. It is a legitimate concern, though some would say quite often overblown.

The recent battle over the "Stop Online Piracy Act" was one example of such tensions. The growing battle over Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement will be the next fight. 

Amazon Kindle Fire is Having Quite an Impact

The Amazon Kindle Fire is having quite an impact on end user sessions. In just two months, the Kindle Fire has gone from zero sessions to 36 percent of all Android tablet sessions.

On the chart you can see that the Samsung Galaxy Tab dominated Android tablet application sessions as recently as November 2011.

Just two months later, In January 2012, Kindle Fire represented 36 percent of sessions, the same percentage as held by the Galaxy Tab.

Other data suggests that tablet and e-reader ownership doubled in just two months, as well. Unprecedented growth

The share of adults in the United States who own a tablet of some sort nearly doubled from 10 percent to 19 percent between mid-December 2011 and early January 2012.

The ownership of e-readers also surged from 10 percent to 19 percent over the same time period. Tablet ownership doubled in two months

That is an unprecedented growth rate for any consumer electronics device. Tablet ownership also had been on a strong adoption path earlier in 2011 as well, but doubling in 30 days from a base of 10 percent seems never to have occurred before.

Mobile Banking, For Many, IS banking

Mobile banking is becoming banking, a PwC survey suggests. Mobile banking will be the norm by 2015 and consumers will be willing to pay up to $15 per month for mobile banking services that offer convenience and value.

Key to the PwC research is its prediction that by 2015 mobile will overtake branch networks as the dominant channel of customer interaction with financial institutions.

Another finding is that the bar is getting raised: to attract Gen Y customers, financial institutions need to improve their digital banking products.

The PwC research is based on a survey of 3,000 customers globally.

“The research reveals that customers are willing to pay for social media notifications, an electronic wallet for loyalty cards and financial tools provided by banks," says PwC. 

Siri Getting Used?

Tell the truth: do you really do anything with Siri other than show people what a cool thing it is?

Maybe I'm hanging around with the wrong people, but I rarely encounter anybody who really uses it, other than to show somebody what it can do.

It's entertain  ing, and provides a "wow" factor, but really, who uses it?

Google Mobile Wallet Facing Headwinds?

Google’s head of consumer payments Vikas Gupta has resigned, AllThingsD reports. 


Separately, former vice president Stephanie Tilenius also has left to work in another position at Google. 


To be sure, it would not be unusual if an entrepreneur whose firm was acquired by Google eventually left to perhaps start another company. 


Nor would it be unusual if an executive gets moved to another post, at a firm as large as Google.

But some will wonder whether the changes mean Google has found it more difficult than originally expected to get traction for its Google Wallet initiative.

And, as part of that, Bedier will be taking on a larger role within Google Wallet, though his title will not be changing.

Gupta joined the Google about 18 months ago after Google acquired Jambool, a virtual goods payment platform where he was a founder and CEO.

Osama Bedier, Google’s VP of Payments appears to be assuming the leadership role for the Google Wallet effort. Nothing is easy where mobile payments and wallet efforts are concerned, it seems.
Nor should we expect a smooth, linear growth pattern. In fact, the normal expectation is for overheated expectations, followed by a period of disillusionment, before actual mass adoption begins.


Mobile payments and mobile wallet expectations likely are approaching a peak of inflated early optimism. The "crash" of expectations surely will follow, before the business actually materializes in robust form.

more Evidence That Texting is Displacing Talking

The latest data from CTIA: The Wireless Association provides more evidence that texting is displacing talking among U.S. consumers.

Since about June 2008 some 60 million additional users have become mobile subscribers.

Since that time, though, the amount of voice traffic has been flat. Usage has shifted dramatically to texting, rather than talking.

That doesn't mean a mobile device is useful "only" as a messaging device. People still do talk.

It's just that a greater percentage of total communications are occurring in text mode.

Latest CTIA data