Visa and NeuStar have announced an alliance to bring mobile finances straight in at the operator level. Through NeuStars history in global carrier inter-connections, Visa hopes to create a system of mobile transactions that will work reliably all over the world.
The basic idea here is that since both Visa and NeuStar both have existing worldwide services, it’ll be easy for Visa to connect it’s transaction services with operators. And since that transaction network will be in place world-wide, it will be able to speed the creation of mobile services that operate globally, and provide an identical user experience for people using m-banking services. The role of NeuStar in this deal will be to guarantee safe and reliable transfer of data between everyone involved – from operators, to users, to financial institutions.
Via PC World
From the release:
“The Visa-NeuStar alliance provides Visa a single point of connection to mobile network operators around the globe and supports Visa’s global strategy to extend its products and services to the mobile channel,” said Elizabeth Buse, Head of Product at Visa Inc. “This initiative has the potential to accelerate delivery of mobile financial services in both emerging and developed economies. Those services include mobile payments, wireless top-up of prepaid accounts, money transfer, value-added services such as alerts and offers and mobile acceptance of electronic payments.”
“NeuStar, Visa and our operator partners represent trusted brands, Visa in payments and NeuStar in network data exchange, and operators in mobile communications,” said Steve Edwards, Senior Vice President of Converged Addressing Services at NeuStar. “This collaboration enables network operators, financial institutions, Visa, and consumers to move rapidly into the world of mobile payments and take advantage of the exciting opportunities ahead. We look forward to joining Visa, financial institutions, and mobile network operators in developing best practices and applications for mobile financial services.”
What we think?
I know mobile payment services are advancing at a dizzying rate, but I’m still excited about this announcement. For m-finance to really take off, it requires exactly what this offers: a trusted, global inter-connections company service enabling a global network of connections between carriers and one of the worlds biggest transaction companies. It’s also nice to see a company of Visa’s size taking confident steps, especially after MasterCard tip-toed into America with MoneySend last week.
I have been doing a lot thinking regarding how Chip Hoffman always stressed in interviews that NeoMedia was not in the “application space” but instead, the “infrastructure space”.
When Chip came on board, he changed NeoMedia’s entire business strategy. The new buzz phrase became, “Optically Initiated Transactions”.
When I think of transactions, I think of money, debit, and credit.
According to Chip:
http://mobilecodes.org/Dec07Announcement.pdf
“We are creating the mobile equivalent of the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) for mobile content. A standard technology used industry wide, which, like a Bank-card, allows the consumer-facing mark of instant access to mobile content, the bar code, to be used regardless of a subscriber’s manufacturer or service provider of choice.”
Think about that for a second … “to be used regardless of a subscriber’s manufacturer or service provider of choice.”
According to the NeuStar / NeoMedia PR:
http://www.neustar.org/pressroom/files/announcements/barcodefinal.pdf
“NeuStar today unveiled the first successful demonstration and implementation of technology that enables cell phones to scan and process two-dimensional bar codes – regardless of the mobile service provider, type of bar code symbology, or scanning technology used.
There it is again … “regardless of the mobile service provider, type of bar code symbology, or scanning technology used.”
According to Chip: “The codes do not matter… The US market will never be monolithic and as soon as 11004567 is published in an EzCode, DataMatrix, or Aztec code, will process the same through any of the systems I have seen.”
What is being foreshadowed here?
Say for example Verizon and T-Mobile decide to preload the i-nigma reader on all future handsets here in the US. And lets say Sprint and Alltel adopts ScanLife, and AT&T adopts the NeoReader.
Think about Visa … Visa does not loan money, thus they assume no credit risk. Visa, like Mastercard is a pure financial transaction company. Visa charges and collects a fee for every debit and credit card transaction done on a Visa card.
What if NeoMedia, in conjunction with NeuStar and the mobile carriers here in the US and in Europe are in the process of creating a billing and transaction infrastructure built on top of NeoMedia’s patent portfolio?
According to Chip … “NEOM has the necessary components to pick and choose where it plays. The IP is what it is and since NEOM is a member of OMA, is required to provide it under FRAND terms.”
NeoMedia, like Visa, could then collect a transaction fee for every 2D code that is scanned and validated by any consumer’s mobile device, using any kind of mobile code reading application, on any carrier’s network … worldwide.
Thus we have the Optical Messaging Interchange.
“In order to create a global ecosystem for mobile codes, NeoMedia is collaborating with recognized leaders in telecommunication infrastructure management to create a worldwide infrastructure for the processing of optically initiated transactions – called the Optical Messaging Interchange. This interchange would provide the mass reach required by brands and advertisers to invest in the technology, while enabling operators to leverage their investments in networks and subscribers. By embracing open standards, full interoperability, and by being barcode symbology agnostic, NeoMedia Technologies wants to provide a global infrastructure to insure that all transactions requested by end users work as intended, all parties are compensated correctly, and that the technology achieves mass adoption globally. In doing so, NeoMedia enables a seamless, secure, and reliable platform for mobile commerce using 1D and 2D barcodes and mobile devices. NeoMedia’s mission is to offer new ways to make mobile internet transactions effortless and more accessible while enhancing customer value and convenience.”