I was reading a discussion on the TP group on LinkedIn this week and the topic was ‘Do Consultants add sufficient value’.   Great question and one that I would guess could be discussed endlessly.  At the end of the day consultan......

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Bangladesh in ‘Bank Led’ remittance model Bangladesh has entered the international mobile remittance market based on the previous success of the Philippines model.  Bangladesh’s migrant workforce has been encountering the typical remittance issues: inability to send money frequently, delays while sending, unsecure distribution, inconsistent delivery methods, etc.   To combat these issues Bangladesh has established an mRemittance service supported by two local banks -- Dhaka Bank Ltd and Eastern Bank Ltd -- and the country's second largest mobile operator, Banglalink.   This is a ‘bank led’ model ensuring the process adheres to financial regulations.   The value chain between the banks and mobile carrier ...

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The annual CTIA convention in Las Vegas is underway and as always with the CTIA many new research reports have been released.   One report from Informa has some positive data points for the future growth of mobile marketing.  According to the Informa ‘fact sheet’ mobile advertising will be a key agenda item for the CTIA conference.  Informa is forecasting that US mobile social networking alone will reach revenues of $421 million USD, marking a 50% increase. The fact sheet continues to say the U.S. mobile social networking market will continue it’s robust growth into 2013 when it is projected to breakthrough the 1 billion revenue mark. These statistics, taking with a grain ...

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After having a chance to review all the marketing brochures I collected at the GSMA conference last week I found one from a company focused on Proximity Marketing.   Proximity marketing is not the same concept as mobile marketing, although both offer marketing capabilities via the mobile market.  Proximity Marketing can be defined as the localized wireless distribution of advertising content associated with a particular place.  Marketing messages and adverts can be communicated to individuals in that location who wish to receive them. Of course no hard and fast definition really exists which separates the two, the easiest way to distinguish Proximity Marketing from Mobile Marketing is simply the concept ...

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I have finally had a chance to write-up a recap from GSMA Mobile World Congress from Barcelona, which was a great conference in spite of the cold & rainy weather.   One of the big highlights of the conference was the keynote address given by Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google.  The address began by Eric presenting some impressive statistics regarding the mobile market such as: -30% growth for Smartphone’s year over year -It is predicted that Smartphones will surpass PC sales within 3 years -Half the new Internet connections are for Mobile devices   -More Google searches are performed on mobile devices than on desktops in emerging countries -Mobile web adoption is proceeding ...

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  Today I had the opportunity to listen in on the Webinar: Happy Holidays or Not: Mobile Lessons Learned, and Best Practice for 2010. The webinar was interesting and provide some good facts about how the mobile phone assisted the 2009 holiday shopping season.  It is truly a global trend according to e-Rewards and TNS international, which reported over 50% of Internet Users worldwide, used their mobile phone to support shopping in some capacity. Some of the trends that have become clear are that mobile shopping will not be the complete solution.  It is an enabler of many different activities involved in the overall shopping and purchasing experience.  Of ...

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I thought I would write about a recent interview I conducted on Mobile-Financial regarding an innovative and convenient new mobile payment service being launched.  First, because it’s fresh in my mind, and second, because I think it is a really interesting new service and one I know I personally will use. ATX Innovations has launched a service called ‘Tabbed Out’ which allows patrons of bars and restaurants to review and close out bar and restaurant bills via their mobile phone. It is both a convenient and safer way to pay your bill.  After your meal and/or a few rounds of drinks when you are ready to leave, or ...

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In an article from Mobile Banker (American Banker) several industry experts are listing 2009 as the year mobile banking officially became commonplace and customers consider it a standard service to be offered by their financial institutions. Fred Brothers, managing partner of technology consulting firm eCom Advisors, states in the article, "I think we will look back at 2009 as the pivotal year for mobile banking…I don't think people appreciate that yet." Later in the article Richard K. Crone, the founder of Crone Consulting LLC, states, “Mobile banking and payments are taking off much faster than online banking did.  People are already comfortable with the idea of managing information with ...

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Local U.S municipalities have embraced mobile and GPS technology in an attempt to allow local taxpayers to report problems to the city government in a speedy and convenient manner.  CNN has a great article discussing the concept of Gov 2.0 and some of the related applications that are currently in the marketplace. What is Gov 2.0?   The definitions vary, but in a Forbes article Tim O’ Reilly provides the following definition of Gov 2.0 that I think sums it up well: “…with the proliferation of issues and not enough resources to address them all, many government leaders recognize the opportunities inherent in harnessing a highly motivated and diverse population not ...

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In an article from USA Today, eBay’s CEO John Donahoe said his company expects to generate over $500 million in mobile-based application revenue in 2009.   Most of this revenue will come from the iPhone application, which has been downloaded more than 5 million times so far. Donahoe also said mobile and Internet transactions will drive e-commerce from 5% of total retail sales to approximately 15-20% in five years. To do their part in growing e-commerce eBay has opened up PayPal.  eBay is now allowing 3rd parties to integrate with PayPal in the hopes that it will drive innovation, and eventually the new innovations will increase transactions. The USA Today article notes ...

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