Tom J. Manessis, head of emerging opportunities at VISA says, "For U.S. consumers, it has to be simple to use", in a Businessweek story about paying by cell-phone, Will that be Cash, Credit or Cell?, by Roger O. Crockett. I don't think it's just US consumers, Tom.
In fact, excessive complexity is probably what has sunk this development to date, since we've been hearing it touted as "coming soon" for at least five years now.
Sam Pitroda, CEO of C-SAM, says he has been focused on ease of use. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
So often, exciting developments of this type sink under attempts to take over the world, instead of focusing on improving a few consumer experiences and making them dramatically better.
We don't need to apply for loans via keypad on our cell, or make mortgage payments this way. In fact, last time I researched it, not many people wanted to trade stocks this way. But it would be nice to perhaps pay for a cab, buy mints, buy a newspaper, a subway token, or other small purchases in a simple way.
I have heard from many consumers that they hate cluttering up their bank statement with a lot of small debit purchases.
Dexit is supposed to solve this problem by providing a key-fob device that you reload at $1.50 per. It does mean carrying another device, and it requires it's own infrastructure. (I pity the poor merchants who have to figure this all out. Wonder what their customer experience feels like?)
However, things are looking good on the cell-phone payments front these days. Can your cell-phone provider give you a simple sign-up process? Stay tuned.
al
