Review Mobile Payment Has Growing Pains 
http news yahoo com news tmpl=storyu= ap 20050915 ap on hi te tech test mobile paymentsReview Mobile Payment Has Growing Pains By BRIAN BERGSTEIN AP Technology Writer Thu Sep 15 2 16 PM ETBOSTON The logic is solid behind MobileLime a new service designed to let you leave your wallet at home or at least some of the cards in it and instead use your cell phone to buy things Too bad the service in my tests around town didn t seem quite ready for the mobile masses As a concept buying stuff with your cell phone more on how you do that in a second seems like a great idea For one who leaves home without their cell these days And with identity theft a growing concern who wants to hand their credit card over to a stranger The concept already has traction in Japan where NTT DoCoMo says its mobile wallet service has 3 million users Compared to Americans Asian consumers are far more accustomed to using advanced phone services The people behind MobileLime ! Watertown Mass based Vayusa Inc hope to change that The service exists for now at 80 stores in the Boston area Vayusa claims it has signed up 10 000 users and CEO Bob Wesley says he expects that to increase dramatically in coming months with nationwide additions to the network MobileLime works with any cell phone regardless of manufacturer or wireless carrier Here s how it operates A fast and painless online registration You transfer money into a MobileLime account and use it like a prepaid debit card Or you set up the system so each transaction is charged to your credit card Once enrolled you can use the Web site to spot coupons at participating merchants or track your progress in customer loyalty programs For example a store might give you $5 off when your cumulative spending there through MobileLime surpasses $75 When you re ready to buy something you pull out the cell phone and call MobileLime An automated voice greets you by name You key in your four ! digit PIN followed by the location code a short number posted! in the store Then you give the cashier the last four digits of your cell number It s pretty fast though with all those steps it s slower than cash unless you begin the keypunching even before the clerk begins to tally your order Most attractive are the discounts many MobileLime merchants offer in exchange for being able to track your spending I got two freshly made smoothies for a total of just $1 09 thanks to the combination of two such deals But that s about the only real advantage It s not like you actually can leave your wallet at home I work in downtown Boston and yet there was only one place nearby that accepted MobileLime the KaBloom flower stand in South Station the city s main train depot I don t really hold that against MobileLime because it faces a classic chicken and egg problem Consumers generally don t want to sign up for a technology unless it is usable in lots of locations but merchants won t bother to adopt a new scheme unless lots of potential customer! s are on board What bothered me more were the service s growing pains In my first attempt with it the sales attendant at KaBloom insisted I couldn t use MobileLime to buy things She thought it was merely a way to record my purchases so KaBloom could grant me rewards as my spending increased Paying with the phone That would leave her register short at the end of the day she said I persisted and tried to explain but she stood her ground and quickly the situation became ridiculous Someone behind me was waiting Unwilling to make a flower buying commuter late for her train I dropped my pleas plunked down cash and left Another time in a creperie in nearby Brookline I called MobileLime and my PIN got rejected Again I ended up paying cash Almost certainly I had simply forgotten my PIN Not MobileLime s fault of course but a downside of the service So I returned to the Web site and changed the PIN to one I d be sure to remember Then I ventured to a coffee ho! use in Cambridge and tried again I ended up making four calls! to Mobi leLime while my cafe au lait was in the works Each time I entered the PIN I got silence Without warning the call would just drop Once again cash remained king Later I was told that the company had made a switch in its computer systems that caused a 20 minute loss of service which happened to coincide with my test From then on MobileLime worked fine Discounts due to me were automatically applied Within seconds of transactions a receipt was text messaged to my phone and sent to my e mail a setting that can be turned off if you choose But the fact remains that the process of calling and punching in codes is too cumbersome The real future of mobile payments probably will entail having a radio frequency chip embedded in the phone casing and letting users just wave the device past checkout counter readers Indeed that technology is already used in Japan s phone payment services and is beginning to emerge here too in new contactless credit cards To his credit! Wesley says MobileLime is exploring the technology Until then I ll hang on to my wallet http news yahoo com news tmpl=storyu= ap 20050915 ap on hi te tech test mobile paymentsReview Mobile Payment Has Growing Pains By BRIAN BERGSTEIN AP Technology Writer Thu Sep 15 2 16 PM ETBOSTON The logic is solid behind MobileLime a new service designed to let you leave your wallet at home or at least some of the cards in it and instead use your cell phone to buy things Too bad the service in my tests around town didn t seem quite ready for the mobile masses As a concept buying stuff with your cell phone more on how you do that in a second seems like a great idea For one who leaves home without their cell these days And with identity theft a growing concern who wants to hand their credit card over to a stranger The concept already has traction in Japan where NTT DoCoMo says its mobile wallet service has 3 million users Compared to Americans Asian consume! rs are far more accustomed to using advanced phone services Th! e people behind MobileLime Watertown Mass based Vayusa Inc hope to change that The service exists for now at 80 stores in the Boston area Vayusa claims it has signed up 10 000 users and CEO Bob Wesley says he expects that to increase dramatically in coming months with nationwide additions to the network MobileLime works with any cell phone regardless of manufacturer or wireless carrier Here s how it operates A fast and painless online registration You transfer money into a MobileLime account and use it like a prepaid debit card Or you set up the system so each transaction is charged to your credit card Once enrolled you can use the Web site to spot coupons at participating merchants or track your progress in customer loyalty programs For example a store might give you $5 off when your cumulative spending there through MobileLime surpasses $75 When you re ready to buy something you pull out the cell phone and call MobileLime An automated voice greets you by name Yo! u key in your four digit PIN followed by the location code a short number posted in the store Then you give the cashier the last four digits of your cell number It s pretty fast though with all those steps it s slower than cash unless you begin the keypunching even before the clerk begins to tally your order Most attractive are the discounts many MobileLime merchants offer in exchange for being able to track your spending I got two freshly made smoothies for a total of just $1 09 thanks to the combination of two such deals But that s about the only real advantage It s not like you actually can leave your wallet at home I work in downtown Boston and yet there was only one place nearby that accepted MobileLime the KaBloom flower stand in South Station the city s main train depot I don t really hold that against MobileLime because it faces a classic chicken and egg problem Consumers generally don t want to sign up for a technology unless it is usable in lots of loc! ations but merchants won t bother to adopt a new scheme unles! s lots o f potential customers are on board What bothered me more were the service s growing pains In my first attempt with it the sales attendant at KaBloom insisted I couldn t use MobileLime to buy things She thought it was merely a way to record my purchases so KaBloom could grant me rewards as my spending increased Paying with the phone That would leave her register short at the end of the day she said I persisted and tried to explain but she stood her ground and quickly the situation became ridiculous Someone behind me was waiting Unwilling to make a flower buying commuter late for her train I dropped my pleas plunked down cash and left Another time in a creperie in nearby Brookline I called MobileLime and my PIN got rejected Again I ended up paying cash Almost certainly I had simply forgotten my PIN Not MobileLime s fault of course but a downside of the service So I returned to the Web site and changed the PIN to one I d be sure to remember Then I vent! ured to a coffee house in Cambridge and tried again I ended up making four calls to MobileLime while my cafe au lait was in the works Each time I entered the PIN I got silence Without warning the call would just drop Once again cash remained king Later I was told that the company had made a switch in its computer systems that caused a 20 minute loss of service which happened to coincide with my test From then on MobileLime worked fine Discounts due to me were automatically applied Within seconds of transactions a receipt was text messaged to my phone and sent to my e mail a setting that can be turned off if you choose But the fact remains that the process of calling and punching in codes is too cumbersome The real future of mobile payments probably will entail having a radio frequency chip embedded in the phone casing and letting users just wave the device past checkout counter readers Indeed that technology is already used in Japan s phone payment servi! ces and is beginning to emerge here too in new contactless ! credit cards To his credit Wesley says MobileLime is exploring the technology Until then I ll hang on to my wallet
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