I wanted to use this space to bring up a topic we've already discussed twice here a FIWK (here and here): mobile commerce. We spent a good bit of time last week discussing the craziness that is the current technology sector, and what we thought the Telecom landscape might look like in 2020. However, I don't believe we once noted mobile payments - a concept that has blown up surrounding The Red Cross' relief efforts in Haiti (to the tune of $2M). The company responsible for the technology used by the Red Cross is mGive, and it's CEO noted that their Haiti effort could be a tipping point for mobile giving.
What are your thoughts? Do you think Americans are more likely to use such a service for normal payments now that they've seen how easy the process is?
I think it can work because of the coordination with cell phone service providers. You don't have to go online or give a credit card number, the cell phone company takes care of collecting the money. In the cold, logical reasoning perspective...It allows people to make quick decisions based on their emotions before their rational side has time to interrupt.
ReplyDeleteWhen you click on mGive, it shows a billboard with the information. Imagine how many people will be sitting in traffic when they see that billboard. Now they can donate immediately instead of getting to their office or home and thinking, "Would I rather give $10 to a foreign country or to a local hospital?"
I definitely think it will gain popularity as mobile technology becomes more standard. I am friends with a few Europeans that say we are waaaaayyy behind in mobile already. To which I say "yeah but we thought up Facebook and Snuggies"
ReplyDeleteThere's no question it will gain popularity, but I think the real ramifications of this are yet to be seen. People will do it if it's easy and there are absolutely no other charges associated with it. But if the end of the month rolls around and you got shivved for $2 in service fees to make those donations, I think that will piss some people off.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Aaron, are people supposed to be texting while driving? I think promoting that via billboards is on shaky ground, eh?
C-Mac was it on Smile where I posted a link to the way Indians use mobile phones for these things? Basically India missed the personal computer revolution to a large degree, so for things like personal payments and communication cell phones have taken over over those functions. Essentially they leapfrogged ahead out of necessity, which is fascinating to me.
I'm not sure where you posted that Royce, but it reminds me of a study our company did in 2008 that helped Nokia design their next phones for release in India. They asked us what rural Indians wanted in their phone, and we responded with the following as being far and away the top 2 concepts:
ReplyDelete(1) News reader/updates
(2) Flashlight
It's fascinating to learn what is considered an important phone feature across different populations.
Scott, do you feel comfortable saying what your company is?
ReplyDelete(if not I'll delete this comment)
Let's just say it's a "leading market research firm" :)
ReplyDeleteA piece this morning from the Washington Post shows just how quickly this has escalated.
Scott those are great links; really interesting read and fantastic escalation drop
ReplyDeleteSo Scott, can I get your company to pay me for my consumer insights? I love them market studies.
ReplyDeletesure...if you happen to get lucky and find yourself in one of our panels or invited to take one of our surveys...
ReplyDeleteWell I'm sure you can create a little "luck" for me, now can't you old pal?
ReplyDeleteIn lieu of creating an entire new post, I thought I'd respond here.
ReplyDeletemGive (along with partnerships with the US State Dept and the Red Cross) raised over $41 million for Haiti.
Now, with the recent quake(s) in Chile, mGive is sponsoring a text "Chile" to ##### to donate campaign - again, free of cost. Last go-around, this company waived costs, and so did most major carriers. My question is this: how does this company (and the carriers) begin making money again?
They've set the precedence that the American population can donate, free-of-charge, to help those in need. How does one manage the PR-shitstorm that will follow once they announce that they can no longer provide the service for free? Or, do you think they'll eventually just sell their technology to charitable organizations?
I think the later makes the most sense, but who knows how this will play out. Your thoughts?
An interesting question... I agree with you that now they've set the precedent it's hard to reverse free donations. Plus if you think about it, the whole reason they waived fees in the first place was to encourage giving to people in need; it is counter to the entire concept of donations to charge for the service.
ReplyDeleteI do feel like they will sell their technology to charitable organizations. Or option B is maybe that they go to big-time charities like the Gates Foundation or the Clinton-Bush Foundation (whatever that tag-team situation is) and explain they can't afford to do it for free, and one of those big-time charities picks up the tab to enable free giving for the public. Seems like a logical win-win for the companies and the cause.
If I were a big-time charity, I'd want to buy the tech outright. I think it'd be MUCH cheaper for a charity to go that route as opposed to picking up the tab (essentially, a licensing agreement), as this type of payment will be a long-term deal.
ReplyDeleteObviously, if I were mGive, I'd easily hold out to license the tech to individual charities so that I could have multiple clients...
Your last point addresses what I was about to say - what incentive would mGive have to sell it outright versus just license it?
ReplyDeleteA large enough buyout offer?
ReplyDelete