Indian metro system to adopt mobile payments - the NFC way ...Don't we have easy solutions??

Came across the below article  @ www.mobilepaymentstoday.com where it seems Chennai Metro is planning to start NFC based Mobile ticketing system by 2015. http://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/article/210941/Indian-metro-system-to-adopt-mobile-payments?rc_id=312

Few questions which rise as I read this article:

• Are we really ready/or will be by 2015 for NFC based Mobile Ticketing system? Do we really need NFC based Mobile Ticketing for daily commuters?

Am not really saying we are not tech savvy.. or by 2015 majority of the people will not know what NFC is all about.. but is this the right solution for the mass who will use the Metro Services. I feel getting ticket using SMS/Online application would be much easier as compared to expecting daily commuters will user the NFC based Mobile Ticketing system.

Also do daily commuters take tickets on a daily basis..?I don't think so..else we would have to increase the ticketing windows to 10 times the number we have today in Mumbai & Delhi. So this really does not solve the problem of long queues.

• Don't we have any simple way of enabling these mobile ticketets?

Agree having tickets using mobile would be a cool thing to do. Will reduce lot of hassles to commuters..need not to manage the tickets..etc etc..fine.. but can we not have a simple SMS based Mobile Tickets purchase system ...why are we not planning to levarage systems like IMPS (P2M to be specifc) which are in place today which can removes the hassles of long queues at ticketing windows ...managing exact change at the ticketing windows etc.

Do we have the end user segment for such services who will be using NFC enabled phones in India.

I think we are some way getting swayed by the so called "tech savvy - NFC" solution which are really not going to help the masses in India for such requirements. Its hight time we should think practically and have solutions which meets the needs of the masses rather then investing in high end technology solution which are not going to be of real use to the masses in India.


On the other hand remove the mobile from NFC and see how Kenya is using this NFC in a simple way to pay for bus tickets.

Recycle your Old Mobile Phone & Accessories - An initiative by Nokia

As I entered my office premise in the morning... saw few banner from Nokia at the entrance saying "Your old phone is amazing - Recycle it" "We will grow a tree for every accessory dropped in to be recycled"...


That was quite catchy. Next to it was a drop box saying "We Recycle." Thought I had my broken Nokia 3310 with me which I could have dropped in. .. Asked my friend Mohit to drop his Nokia 6610 ... (it badly needs to be recycled now... :0)














Just to share with all how the Recycle of Mobile accessories work.









This will help to remove the older mobile accessories, batteries etc which are harmful to nature and may be Nokia can use some of them to reuse few of the accessories to reduce the cost.

SWOT Analysis - Mobile as an alternate Channel for Banking.

Mobile Banking- That's the Buzz....
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Mobile banking is coming up big as an alternate channel to carry out Banking transaction. Every small and big bank has rolled out there mobile banking initiatives and availing their customers to bank with ease.

Channels available in Mobile Banking:
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GSM
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SMS as channel - Almost every bank in India has Mobile Banking alert feature
Mobile Banking application - Specific to Mobile handset platform using GPRS & SMS as a channel
USSD - Using USSD as channel to carry out mobile banking
WAP bases Low bandwidth Mobile Banking Site
NFC Based Banking solutions(Not much accepted in India due to unavailability of NFC handsets)

CDMA
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BREW Application
WAP based mobile Banking
SMS Banking


Mobile Banking application available in Market:
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ICICI Bank - iMobile
SBI Bank - Freedom
Citi Bank - Citi Mobile
HDFC Bank - NGPAY
Kotak Bank - kMobile
ING Vyasa - Mobile Banking
Union Bank - UMobile
Barclays- Hello Money (USSD)


Stake holders involved in enabling the Channel:
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Banks - To provide the banking support and enable transactions
Telecom operator/Aggregators - Provides the channel support in terms of SMS, GPRS, USSD integrations.
Application vendors- Most of the above applications are outsourced and implemented by vendors holding expertise in Mobile application development.
Mobile Handset Manfacturer/OEM- As the basic application support is required from the mobile platform.
End Users- These are the common customers of Banks, Telecom operator and Handset manufacturer.

SWOT analysis for Mobile Banking as an alternate channel(In Indian Market).
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Strengths:
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1. Mobile as a technology provides all the support required to leverage Banking transactions.
2. Ease of availability- any time, any where.
3. Rapid growth of Mobile and wireless market.

Weakness:
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1. Lack of awareness about the new channel among the mobile users.
2. Security concerns about the new channel
3. Mobile Handset Operatability
4.Application distribution

Opportunity:
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1. Rapid increase in the Mobile user base and acceptance of the Mobile technology even in Rural areas makes a bigger market available for mobile banking to expand.
2. With technology advancements in Mobile handsets rich features can be embedded in the application.
3. Lowering of Mobile Tarrif rates - GPRS plans, SMS

Threats:
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1. Regulatory restrictions by TRAI and RBI to launch Mobile banking as a separate channel.
2. Acceptance of new technology by users.

Advantages to Stake holders
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Banks
- Creating an alternate channel for banking with a reduced operational costs.
Telecom Operator/ Aggregator
- Increase in ARPU with the increase in use of SMS/WAP/GPRS channel
Users/Customers
- easy banking, time saving,24*7 availabilty