Bank of America is not doing well.  After nearly $45 billion in bailout money was dropped into the failing institution, BoA recently announced that they would be closing the doors on nearly 10% of their 6100 branches in the near future.  Although, they did post a strong second-quarter, the bank continues to feel the impact of their default loans.

For many consumers, this is the time to get back to basics.  Saving money.  What should BoA and others like them do? 

It's simple.  Focus on helping people save their money, and don't look for ways that you can suck it out of them.  Access vehicles by which consumers can continue to use their money effectively and simply must be made available to the mass market.

It would be nice to see some much needed funding dropped into marketing and advertising for mobile banking.  BoA started down the right path with their Blackberry Storm/Verizon product launch product placement ads, but nothing since.  And let me say, I think they have a great product there.

It's no secret that banks around the world have taken a much more calculated approach to their businesses, but this must be tempered with innovation and change.  Mobile banking technologies continue to collect dust

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Introduction

Mobile Money Transfer is THE hot buzz word for 2009 in the financial services industry. Currently, many companies are embarking on the adoption of applications and systems to enable Mobile Money Transfer services for their customers. With so much talk in the industry and globally about this new technology, how come so many people around the world are still asking “So You’re Telling Me I Can Send Money From My Phone?”

While many factors play into this equation, this blog posting will examine the background, origins, current state, and potential future state of Mobile Money Transfers.

What Is A Mobile Money Transfer

A Mobile Money Transfer is the exchange of funds from one party to another through a brokered service provider. Building on that definition, a Mobile Money Transfer is the use of a mobile handset device to either initiate and/or complete the transaction.

Traditionally, Money Transfers have been performed at brick and mortar locations and kiosks. By using a mobile infrastructure, service providers can access a new revenue stream by accessing this new service delivery channel.

There is currently a vast Diaspora of technology based models for the delivery of Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) solutions ranging from SMS to

It's pretty clear that the mobile banking industry in North America was waiting for the first player to throw the first stone, and it seems that Bank of America has done just that.  Their recent partnership with Verizon coincides with their release of the Blackberry Storm.  Using the Verizon 3G network, Bank of America has been able to create and provision users with basic banking functions from their mobile device.

It may be a primitive interface, but it's definitely the first major North American step in the mobile banking direction.  While it was no small achievement that they were able to get this product off the ground.  I think the greater accomplishment is that people have actually seen a television commercial affirming that this technology is available to them.  It's very likely that Bank of America, assuming they can stay solvent, will quickly achieve critical mass with this application and their ensuing marketing campaign.

Hopefully this is the first of many more marketing camaigns to come.

Even if you could, WOULD you watch TV on your phone?

Recent US Govt delays in the forced conversion to digital cable could mean that many mobile provider initiatives for mobile tv have been placed on hold.

The bottom line consideration is, do consumers really need this technology now?  With mounting debt, loss of jobs, a failing global economy and a grim short term outcome, are consumers looking for bells and whistles such as mobileTV?

One consideration which may help this proposition is the new age family model.  With growing consideration for the environment, many people are moving to mass transportation to commute to work.  As a result, providers with large commuter populations are noticing increased growth in their usage of mobile data.  Often, this is due to people working on their train rides home or catching up on the news, etc.  The question which is left to be answered is whether people are will to pay additional amounts in addition to the cost of their data to watch their favorite shows that they're missing during the day.

During a recent trip to Japan, I was amazed to see people on the train, young and old, men and women, watching their favorite shows. 

While I

A major case in India of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India has resulted in companies offering Value-Added Services (VAS) to continue to operate without a licence.  This case is very much a landmark as millions of cell phone users continue to move towards mobile commerce, mobile marketing, mobile banking and other value added services.

Similar battles are currently being fought in Africa, as well as some european countries as Financial Institutions continue to jostle to hold their market shares while trying to fend off the advances of mobile services operators and their pursuit of Value-Added Services.  Banks continue to use regulatory inequities as a battle ground.  While specifics are unclear, the bottom line is that this decision proves that the telecom industry does have a leg to stand on with regards to VAS.

The reality is that corporations will ultimately realize that banks no longer have the authority and power they once held in the industry.  Recent economic shockwaves and bank failures have resulted in a lack of trust from consumers.  Mobile operators and service providers are poised with the perfect opportunity to strike at the mass consumer market.  2009 will provide a critical platform for the growth of the mobile value added

If somebody told you last year that Canadians sent 50 million text messages during the holiday season... you would've been shocked.  

Well... the reality is that was just an estimate from the analysts at Virgin.  Makes more sense right?  A really bad estimate at that.

You may be floored when you find out that the actual number was 100 million text messages.

The oracle is out there again, and the estimate is out.  Virgin Mobile estiamtes that the 2008 holiday season will yield 200 million text messages. Virgin calls it the "text blizzard", and those kind of numbers certainly help the case many advertisers and marketers are clearly failing to see.  

Text messages are no longer for kids and teens.  If my mom is sending text messages, the stars have aligned and the time is now.

If this year's estimates are anywhere close to last year's underestimates, then the proof is definitely in the pudding and marketers need to wake up and take advantage of the popularity of text'ing in 2009. 

Yes.  The economy is currently in bad shape; however, the reality is that business must continue.  To get out of this recession, the reality is that business must develop and present real value added services to their clients.  Moving into the next economic era is going to involve the development of services which are pervasive, easy to use, and ground breaking.  

 By ground breaking, I mean that these services MUST be of importance across multiple demographics and not just be accessible by the rich.  Services such as enabling transportation payments, new forms of electronic marketing on cell phones, true mobile commerce, etc. are the future industries which will assist in the recovery from the current economic state.  While consumers have definitely pulled back on their spending, the reality is that cell phones have made their mark on society.  People will definitely continue to use them, and make use of services to facilitate their everyday lifestyles.

 While this is of importance to the application developers, the ball also sits on the shoulders of handset developers and network operators to not give up on their pre-crash push of mobile services.  They have absolutely suffered with the decline of high tech purchases; however, future

Despite its popularity, the iPhone has had difficulty reaching the business community. The established pervasive nature of Blackberry devices in the business community has made it difficult for enterprise solutions to enjoy the flash of the iPhone; however, that could change very soon. With the announced release of the Blackberry Storm, using the Android platform, RIM has definitely stepped up to the plate. With more than 100,000 presold units sold in the UK, the Storm is definitely proving a strong contender.

The Canadian handset manufacturer is using the iPhone as a springboard to develop a next gen touchscreen device to best facilitiate the needs of the business community. Simple improvements such as better tactile response on the keyboard allow for fast typing. The Storm has also added new functionality, such as cut & paste, which have become deciding factors in handset supremacy.

The bottom line is that increasing the availability of highly interactive handset devices can only help to increase mobile commerce.

We all know how important the killer app can be. In the computing world, it can make or break a new emergent technology. PCs had Lotus 1-2-3, Apple had Adobe, but what will the phones have? What's interesting about killer applications in the past is that they served a unique niche market with almost completely proprietary solutions. But when you talk about new world computing. You seldom hear of the answer to a new question. Until we stumble on the next major technological discovery period, we're working on improving designs and plans for existing technologies.

You may be thinking, "how will I know when I see it". It's pretty safe to say that the mobile phone's killer app is going involve a number of different existing applications. Mobility is the end game in personal computing. Having developed the computer and then the phone, the marriage of the two is more than just the sum of the parts. Identifying the next killer app will involve identifying components which were primarily unique to the mobile phone AND personal computing. The bottom line is that consumers want information. Providing information which could be found by using a pc is not sufficient for a mobile

So RBC has officially announced that they are moving ahead with the implementation of their mobile payments system using Rogers as the Carrier and Visa as the payment vehicle. With Near Field Chips installed on the Motorola Silver handsets, some 500 people have been told to "be free and spend". This would suggest a 2009 consumer release for the real deal.

While this is a great step, one has to wonder what the adoption will be like for this type of handset given the push that Rogers just gave the iPhone 3G (which is not NFC capable). With iPhones being the hot ticket item for this year, it's going to be hard to convince the masses to retool with newer phones for Near Field capabilities.

Which makes me wonder, since the technology was already there, why WOULDN'T Apple have included NFC on the 3G model? I suppose the answer is so that you'd go out and buy the newer model next year.