Friday, January 23, 2009

Money Ventures that are mobile

What made Dumb and Dumber such a funny movie was not because the two friends Harry and Lloyd was so stupid, but that they did not know it. They often acted thinking that they are smart, but it was clear for most that they were not.

I see similar behaviour in the mobile banking industry, but I am often not sure if I should laugh or be sad. I was recently exposed to such a company - one with large shareholders and a very visible profile (and probably a massive budget too).

It is quite unclear what product they offer and how they intend generating the kind of revenue that they would require to sustain their expenses. With many high profile executives and grand plans, it is interesting to hear the articulation of their vision: "poised to set the industry standard for mobile financial services". At the same time ridiculous claims are made like offering financial services solutions that ares unique in offering comprehensive banking, payments, and budgeting tools on the customer’s existing mobile phone. And also that they have created a next generation mobile financial service solution that will accelerate the adoption of mobile financial services worldwide.

In addition, it seems that this organisation is partnering with every willing company, even if they are in competition or when their offerings and business models are diagonally opposed to each other. It would be interesting to have a wager on how the future of this company will pan out.

2 comments:

Jimbob said...

Name names!

Prewett said...

He did. Cleverly.