Now that Microsoft has replaced their Live Search service with the “Bing” brand, it’s only a matter of time before the Live Search Mobile application gets a little revamp of its own. The new Bing “decision engine” has been something of a runaway success for Microsoft. I personally haven’t made the switch, but the fact…
Archives for June 23, 2009
Mobile Money Summit: I’m done for today
And that’s about all I got time for today. Tomorrow the event continues, and I hope to catch up with more interesting people and learn something new. My impression is that people are enthused about the mobile payment prospects and what it brings to the table. And we’re not talking the West world only, but…
Mobile Money Summit: The rest of the day
I needed to leave early to prepare all the posts for publishing. Here’s what I’ve missed: “The Business Case for Targeting Unbanked Markets – Mobile Payments in a Time of War” by Miyanda Mulambo, General Manager, Celpay. Miyanda talked about Democratic Republic of Congo’s unique challenges for financial service provisions and how these have been…
Mobile Money Summit: Interview with Obopay’s Carol L. Realini
If you’ve been reading IntoMobile carefully, you know about Obopay. They are a mobile payment service provider that got its funding from such companies as Citibank and Nokia Ventures. That fact by itself should be a reason enough to think they’re onto something. At the Mobile Money Summit, I had an opportunity to sit with…
Mobile Money Summit: Financially Connecting the Unbanked through Mobile
The second part has started. It’s the emerging markets where all the focus is, and as a keynote we’ve heard Bob Christen, Director of Financial Services for the Poor Global Development Program at Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Here are the key points from his speech: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation focuses on 2 billion…
Mobile Money Summit in photos
To get a better image how it was at the Mobile Money Summit, here are few photos from the event. As you can see, many people are eating, and that’s because I took most of the shots at the launch break. Enjoy!
Mobile Money Summit panel: The Reality of Deploying the Latest Mobile Money Innovations
After Orange’s presentation, a panel titled “The Reality of Deploying the Latest Mobile Money Innovations” started. Participants included: Dag-Inge Flatraaker, Chairman M-Channel Expert Group, European Payment Council Mung-Ki Woo, Vice President, Payment and Contactless, Orange – France Telecom Group Hannes Van Rensburg, CEO, Fundamo Steve Granek, VP Business Development, Neustar They’ve discussed hot topics such…
Mobile Money Summit: Global Innovations in Mobile Money – An MNO viewpoint
I haven’t arrived at the very beginning of the conference. It was 11:40 and I just came in to listen to Mung-Ki Woo, Vice President of Payment and Contactless at Orange/France Telecom Group. Here’s the recap of what he said: First he presented Orange markets and differences of Europe and Africa, pointing out that in…
LG Announces Chinese enV Touch
LG has just announced two phones for the Chinese market: the KT878 and KV920. The first is an Omnia-esque smartphone running on China’s proprietary TD-SCDMA hardware, and packs Windows Mobile 6.1, a 5 megapixel camera and a 3″ WVGA screen. By the looks of it, there’s an optical sensor between the soft keys, so you’ll…
Mobile Money Summit: Meeting with Fraaz Ahmed from Lebara
If I died yesterday I wouldn’t know about Lebara. They don’t have to do much with mobile payments — at least not at the moment — but they have an interesting business model. Those not familiar should know that Lebara is one of the most successful MVNOs in the world. This privately owned company prides…