A good update on mobile payments from Bloomberg Businessweek ( read here). Interesting if unsurprising to note the growth in mobile payments over the last two years .
While these developments are more for 'people like us' - either in developed countries or urban smartphone owners in the rest of the world - mobile banking has in fact already had a significant impact on the lives of millions of less privileged people in lesser developed societies like East Africa , Philippines , Bangladesh , India , etc.( Here's a great Economist report on the spectacular success of M-PESA in Kenya).
Reading the Businessweek report , I am very interested to see how m-commerce pans out in those societies. The mobile phone is already the most penetrated modern device there while banks are both severely underpenetrated and mostly unviable. In such a scenario , could the SIM card emerge as some sort of a debit card in the village , with the phone enabling payments for small purchases when ready cash is not at hand ? Will consumer goods companies engaged in extensive rural marketing programs, like India's Hindustan Unilever in India for example, tap into the mobile ecosystem to build value for their consumers and themselves ? Maybe partner with Telecom companies on a sharing basis given the high volumes involved ?
Interesting to watch this space from a mass marketing - not to mention the socio-economic - point of view.
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