Do you think phones will replace credit cards in the future? With all of the problems involved with credit card billing, charge backs etc.
We have just introduced SMS/Text billing on all of our CuriousCash websites and the initial indications are extremely positive.
I’m interested to know other peoples experience with SMS/Text.
More people join our site by SMS than by credit card now.
I think it will be quite awhile before it hits the United States. Europe yes and the Japan. But with the FCC over here, it will probably be sometime in the next democratic presidency
who are you guys using and how difficult was it to integrate into your systems?
please do share!
cheers,
Luke
So far as in the U.S i think we're a long way off having a solution thats going to overtake payment methods such as CC, Phone Billing and the likes.
Dont forget, cell phone wise, the US is still decade behind the majority of the world when it comes to the potential of SMS and MMS billing solutions, there are definately some viable options however, for most US based programs, unless you arent targeting US traffic, SMS / MMS billing at the present time isnt going to add to much to your bottom line profits.
The average cell phone user in the US doesnt use text messaging as much as their counterparts throughout the world do. I mentioned in another thread on a similar topic a few months ago that 5/6 years ago in the UK i could order my weekly groceries via my mobile phone, that ability still hasnt made its way to the US beause the SMS culture in America isnt as wide spread as it is throughout Europe, Asia and, Australia at the present time, its getting better, but its no where near reaching its full potential at the present time.
Regards,
Lee
I'm intrigued that the US is so far behind on this. It seems like the sort of thing that Americans would really go for. Why hasn't it taken off? Is it too regulated or do people just not like it?
BritishTwinks, it could be because the mobile phone market in the USA is rather disjointed with all the telco's working on different systems (including the old TDMA network, the 850 and 1900 GSM networks, etc) and this has thrown a wrench into cross-platform abilities.
cheers,
Luke
Great question. Hoping one of you guys will share an answer with us curious folks.who are you guys using and how difficult was it to integrate into your systems?
please do share!:kiss:
don't forget - the u.s. is WAY in front regarding chargebacks on phone sex and dialer calls. men in the u.s. have no problem spending two weeks in a site they paid for, then telling the phone company or credit card company that their card or phone was misused.
I think you guys might be missing the ball on reasons we don't use SMS often in the states. Remember we're an on the go society, spending a lot of time on the freeway commuting to and from work and can't SMS, we just call. We are the most internet wired company in the world, when we want to order something we goto the website on our computer at home, work, or school, and order it.
Also in the states we have a lot of mobile to mobile free call programs, and unlimited call flat rate programs, which negate the reason most people use SMS, to save money.
I don't know about Britain, but here in Australia there are only a handful of choices for phone services and mobile call prices are astronomical, not to mention normal tel co call prices from your home. Here SMS is a necessity to avoid HUGE phone bills.
I think waving your phone in front of a machine to pay for something is a great use of mobile phone technology and can't wait for that to take off in the states, or here in Australia. But paying by SMS just isn't very practical for most Americans as there are so many other easier ways to do it.
Disclaimer: Please don't think this is an America is/are -fill in the blank- , it's not. This is my insight on this particular topic :high:
From my point of view:
I don't use SMS at all, it just takes too much time and with one message that I send I could be talking for exactly 5 minutes, so why the heck should I send it.
On the other hand, since I live in a small european country where 89% of population owns mobile, it wasn't as hard for us to implement SMS payments years ago. Ofcourse, these sort of things are easy when there are only 2 million people living in a country and where both 4 mobile operators use same frequencies or whatever...
I don't know how it is in UK or rest of Europe, but I can pay in stores and restaurants by mobile just like with a credit card. And the best thing is that it takes about 3 seconds.
Personally I wouldn't need a credit card If I was only buying and living in my country...
I believe credit cards will be replaced with mobile payment, so it's quite unfortunate that USA is not embracing this sort of newbie with opened arms..
squirt / dalimili
re: your comments on sms taking too much time or not being convenient - I totally disagree on this, have you seen how quick kiddies in school can sms their mates? A few years ago I used to think why would you sms when you can just ring up and have a real chat, but honestly I have gotten into sms'ing and its way easier and more convenient. Now I find about 75-80% of the times I use my mobile its for sms messages and only occasionally do I actually chat on it! And studies have shown that this is the way things are going, quickly too.
dalimili, that is awesome that you can use your phone to pay for stores and restaurants too. This is definately the way of the future, after all with prepays you don't need a credit rating and you can use cash to top up your account too.
cheers,
Luke
Yeah the kiddies at school text constantly because they can't afford calls. Especially here in Oz. My boy is 11 and his friends used to be shocked when he called on the mobile instead of texting. Ever wonder why TV shows like Australian Idol, Big Brother, etc. have SMS voting, as well as 900# voting? Because those shows are geared towards the kids who wont have access to a phone with 900# capabilities.Originally Posted by Chilihost
We might disagree on the convenience of texting messaging, or why people text, but we do agree on how easy it would be to pay for things via SMS, and how much we all want this to be a new standard of payment worldwide.
It would be nice to go to the grocery store and wave my phone to pay for groceries, a cab, or a plane ticket. It would be nice after flying from Australia and landing in Hong Kong to use the same phone for payment there. I think one thing setting back the states from moving forward in this arena is the credit card companies. Imagine the money they will lose when everyone pays their phone company every month for purchases that could have been made on a credit card :francais:
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