Why One Startup Wants Your Mobile Carrier to Act Like Your Bank
Google, PayPal and major credit companies are all making land-grabs for the emerging mobile payments industry. Mobile carriers — used to controlling profits made from mobile phones — want to avoid being squeezed out.
Now, thanks to a startup called BOKU, there’s a mobile payment solution that could satisfy all sides.
The product, BOKU Accounts, works like a debit card issued by your mobile carrier instead of your bank. Users receive an NFC-enabled sticker they can attach to any phone — as well as a mobile-carrier-branded MasterCard.
The financial management of Boku’s product works a little differently than its earlier offering, direct carrier billing. In that product, any purchases made with mobile phone numbers show up on mobile phone bills. The system lets people who don’t have credit cards shop online.
With BOKU Accounts, however, users deposit money into a separate account with their mobile carriers. Credit card providers aren’t cut out of the process. Everybody’s happy.
“[Credit card] networks rely on banks as issuers to attract, retain and manage users,” explains BOKU SVP of Product & Marketing David Yoo. “Banks have limited access to users — well, in relative terms.”
“There are only 2 billion credit cards, according to Nilson Report. However, mobile operators have access to 6 billion users. (...)
