Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly – Week of January 3, 2011

Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile payments, mobile money, e-wallets, mobile banking and mobile security that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

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PayPal saw a 300 percent increase in mobile payments from the official start of the shopping season on November 15 through December 15 compared to the year ago period. PayPal is expecting to close the year with more than $700 million in total payment volume via the mobile medium.

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/paypal-reports-300pc-growth-in-mobile-payments-over-last-holiday-season/

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A recent poll by Scanbuy on Twitter and Facebook proves the influence that mobile bar codes are having for retail outlets trying to improve the customer shopping experience.  The poll revealed that there is significant interest in using mobile bar codes while shopping, with more than half of those surveyed having scanned a bar code.

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/mobile-bar-code-scanning-became-mainstream-this-holiday-season-scanbuy/

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Google is considering building a payment and advertising service that would let users buy milk and bread by tapping or waving their mobile phones against a register at checkout. It is based on near field communication technology, which can beam and receive information wirelessly from four inches away.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2010/tc20101231_087039.htm

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China has all the conditions required for a rapid take off in mobile payments, says a report published by consultancy firm Celent. Government support, close cooperation between financial institutions and mobile operators, low bank card penetration and high mobile phone usage are all factors identified by the firm as necessary for market growth, and are all present in China.

http://www.financeasia.com/News/243051,china-to-expect-dramatic-take-off-in-mobile-payments.aspx

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Mobile Payments continue to gain traction. With near field communication announced on Android mobile platform and Apple iPhone expected to follow in competition a tipping point has been reached. While it will take some time to build the necessary infrastructure, this is the game changer for the future and must be included.

http://www.glgroup.com/News/8-Online-Banking-Trends-for-2011-52068.html

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Industry analysts at iSuppli have predicted that the use of mobile devices for payments will begin to take off in 2011, with 2012 being a ‘make or break’ year for the technology.  According to iSuppli, the turning point for mobile payments is due to an increase in support for near field communication technology by companies such as Nokia and Google.

http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/analysts-predict-big-year-for-mobile-payments-16930

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Mobile phone subscribers in Brazil will soon be able to buy prepaid airtime or pay mobile merchants using their handsets, drawing funds directly from their MasterCard credit or debit cards. This will be made possible by MasterCard’s new Mobile Payments Gateway, which was developed with the assistance of Smart Hub Inc., a subsidiary of leading wireless services provider Smart Communications.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=643384&publicationSubCategoryId=66

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Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster predicts this will be the year that near field communication technology finally “arrives” in the US, most likely as a result of Apple infusing near field communication technology into its forthcoming fifth generation iPhone.

http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/analyst-nfc-enabled-iphone-coming-in-2011-12250/

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The Royal Bank of Canada has become that country’s first bank to launch a mobile banking application for select smartphones — namely, RIM BlackBerry devices and Apple’s iPhones, iPod Touch and iPad.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Apple-BlackBerry-Smartphones-Get-Mobile-Banking-Apps-469217/

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Wells Fargo is again trying to make mobile payments at restaurants and retailers mainstream, three years after an earlier attempt lost steam. The bank is kicking off a mobile payment trial with 200 employees in San Francisco using a technology that can be inserted into existing phones with microSD cards.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2010/tc20101231_921299.htm

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According to a recently published study by ABI Research, almost half of smartphone owners use, or plan to use, their device for mobile shopping. A further 53 percent use their smartphone to conduct online banking activity, or intend to do so in the near future.

http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=conWebDoc.38347

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Mobile shopping on eBay peaked in 2010 with consumers all over the globe using the company's mobile applications to search for, bid on and buy items when they were away from their desktop computers.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/top-global-mobile-shopping-trends-in-2010-on-ebay-2175028.html

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Macy's says it will boost its e-commerce presence and add about 725 positions over the next two years to support its Macys.com and Bloomingdales.com websites. Macy's aims to incorporate a multichannel strategy that will allow customers to shop seamlessly in stores, online and via mobile devices, the company said.

http://multichannelmerchant.com/ecommerce/news/macys-to-expand-ecommerce-division-bloomingdales-com-0104/

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Worldwide sales of goods through eBay’s mobile phone applications rose by 166 percent year on year during the Christmas holiday shopping period.

http://news.parcel2go.com/ParcelDeliveryNews/ebay-mobile-sales-up-166-800320654.aspx

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, mobile industry analyst and experienced mobile industry executive, offers both one and two day onsite workshops designed to educate and inform executives and management teams on enterprise mobility and mobile strategies for businesses. This workshop is designed to provide a complete overview of enterprise mobility and what it means to the business. The workshop is customized based upon the needs of participants. For more details visit http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/workshops.html.

Recent Articles by Kevin Benedict

Changing Attitudes of Mobile Shoppers
Tablets, Mobile Applications and the Enterprise
Wall Street Analyst and SAP Enterprise Mobility
The Global Market for M2M Devices is HUGE!
The Internet of Things (M2M)
SAP StreamWork, Social Intelligence and Mobile Devices
Mobile Expert Interview Series: Aberdeen Group's Andrew Borg

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You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict and read my blog, Enterprise Mobility Strategies.

Also available are:
Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly
Kevin’s M2M News Weekly

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.