Mobile Person-To-Person Payments Becoming a Reality
Written on Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Ever wanted to give someone money, but you just didn't have the cash with you at the time? Well, I have. And there's also times, when I've been short of cash and the nearest cash point was not exactly near, no matter what your definition of near is.
Well in those cases, it is just so handy having some way to transfer money to someone electronically. That way it's not exactly borrowing and therefore much easier to ask someone, not only for fear of embarassment, but also because you don't know when the next time you see the person will be. If you have access to a mobile banking service, it is simply a case of making an electronic transfer, and now Citi have teamed up with Obopay to make all this easier.
Well, Citibank, over on the other side of the Atlantic, are running a pilot program (anyone know if this works in Europe?) are offering a way to make a person-to-person payment using your mobile phone.
The service seems pretty easy to use, and I would definitely be interested in finding out more about how I can access it. Unfortunately, the official press release does not cover some key topics, such as security and privacy.
There are obvious concerns about security; I obviously don't want my money to end up in some random offshore account just because I lost my phone. Not that I lose it a lot, but I already get annoyed when it happens, and it will be a lot worse if I lost all my money with it as well.
Then, there are also privacy concerns. My credit card number, address, phone number, etc. are, well just mine. And I am not a big fan of giving them out to just anyone. The service has to cover all possibilities, so that my personal data stays not just mine, but more importantly personal.
I don't like carrying much cash around, and I sincerely hope this service works well enough, and service covers both my security and privacy concerns. When I can be sure of that I will be more than happy to not only use it, but tell everyone I know.
Well in those cases, it is just so handy having some way to transfer money to someone electronically. That way it's not exactly borrowing and therefore much easier to ask someone, not only for fear of embarassment, but also because you don't know when the next time you see the person will be. If you have access to a mobile banking service, it is simply a case of making an electronic transfer, and now Citi have teamed up with Obopay to make all this easier.
Well, Citibank, over on the other side of the Atlantic, are running a pilot program (anyone know if this works in Europe?) are offering a way to make a person-to-person payment using your mobile phone.
Citibank customers participating in the pilot program can activate and connect the mobile service to their Citibank checking account or setup up a new mobile payment account at citi.obopay.com. Then, using their phone’s Web browser, SMS text messaging or the downloadable mobile application, customers can send and receive money nearly instantly needing only the mobile phone numbers of friends and family members.
The service seems pretty easy to use, and I would definitely be interested in finding out more about how I can access it. Unfortunately, the official press release does not cover some key topics, such as security and privacy.
There are obvious concerns about security; I obviously don't want my money to end up in some random offshore account just because I lost my phone. Not that I lose it a lot, but I already get annoyed when it happens, and it will be a lot worse if I lost all my money with it as well.
Then, there are also privacy concerns. My credit card number, address, phone number, etc. are, well just mine. And I am not a big fan of giving them out to just anyone. The service has to cover all possibilities, so that my personal data stays not just mine, but more importantly personal.
I don't like carrying much cash around, and I sincerely hope this service works well enough, and service covers both my security and privacy concerns. When I can be sure of that I will be more than happy to not only use it, but tell everyone I know.
Posted in
mobile payments,
mobile services
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"I obviously don't want my money to end up in some random offshore account just because I lost my phone." What is lost with your phone is the SIM. Provided you report the loss immediately, your funds will be safe and you can always have a new SIM registered.
"My credit card number, address, phone number, etc. are, well just mine. And I am not a big fan of giving them out to just anyone. The service has to cover all possibilities, so that my personal data stays not just mine, but more importantly personal
I don't like carrying much cash around, and I sincerely hope this service works well enough, and service covers both my security and privacy concerns. When I can be sure of that I will be more than happy to not only use it, but tell everyone I know. ." Mobile banking with your own bank is available. Use a separate account for mobile transfers, that way your whole stash is not in danger. Registration with the service would not require all the sensitive personal information you just mentioned.
Yeah this is exactly the point I was trying to make about the Citibank Obopay service. That if I lose my phone, I should just lose my SIM, (well, I also lose my storage card as well, but not much we can do about that) and that the service should not store any sensitive data on my phone.
I expect it to work without requiring this information, and if it does, (and as such meets my privacy concerns) then I'd hail it as the service I've been waiting for.
p.s. thanks for helping clear this up!
yes it exist already in Europe since 2004. Crandy (www.crandy.com) do it, they brought the first P2P offer. Simple to do: just a call, the amount to be send and the tel number of recipient. The other get an SMS with the confirmation. You can keep the money in the Crandy account or bring it back to your standard bank account.