m-Commerce | Technobiography

Archives for the 'm-Commerce' Category

MRT mobile ticket live testing

Published on 21 Nov 2007 at 10:43 am. No Comments.
Filed under m-Commerce.

I got this lead from dlethe01:
November 15, 2007 - OMI Mobile Solutions conducted its internal live test at MRT North Ave. Station to Taft Ave. Station. Succesfully activated OMI E-Wallet and purchase single journey MRT mobile tickets for SMART Communications and SUN Cellular.
http://www.omniprime.net/
Some notes:

Not much detail in the omniprime website. Omniprime was the group behind […]

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Mobile Phone Banking making headway with Rural Banks

Published on 6 Sep 2007 at 10:53 am. 2 Comments.
Filed under ICT4D, m-Commerce.

Colleague John Owens from RBAP MABS keeps me attuned with developments in their mobile phone banking solutions for Rural Banks.
John’s group has a website ( Mobile Phone Banking for clients of Rural Banks - http://mobilephonebanking.rbap.org/ ) that brings together information about Mobile Phone banking solutions for Rural Banks.
They have information about the different services they offer, list of […]

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Metropass: Smart joins the bandwagon with m-commerce enabled transport pass

Published on 29 Jul 2007 at 3:26 pm. 18 Comments.
Filed under m-Commerce, Edong's Dreams.

Look what we’ve got.
Smart is coming out with a technology-enabled / mobile-commerce-enabled transportation pass at the MRT.

Evidence is a spiffy silver booth at the North Ave Station of the MRT labelled “Metropass” and sporting a Smart Money poster. I didn’t find any details about the Metropass service, though. I had a chat with a cashier in […]

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Where in the world is G-Cash?

Published on 5 Dec 2006 at 6:55 am. 3 Comments.
Filed under m-Commerce.

An e-mail question from a Pinay (married to a Japanese ata):
GUD PM PO.PWEDE PO BANG MAKAPAGPADALA SA JAPAN NG PERA GAMIT ANG G-CASH?PANO PO?
My reply:
Wala pa hong International G-Cash Outlet sa Japan. (See List of International G-Cash partners)
International G-Cash Outlets
Provinces and Countries are listed alphabetically
“List as of 02/20/2006″
* Australia-United Kingdom
* USA
Feb 2006 […]

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M-Commerce in the Philippines: The world is watching us

Published on 20 Sep 2006 at 6:51 am. No Comments.
Filed under m-Commerce.

I found a post from Nox about m-Commerce and microfinance in the Philippines. I couldn’t tell which World Bank reference he’s reading although it sounds familiar.
It reminded me of a paper which I’ve kept in my Inbox.
I posted the paper on Mobile Tulay:
In April 2006, I got an email from Anna Bantug-Herrera of Chemonics inviting […]

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TickeTXT: How NOT to buy a Movie Ticket via Text

Published on 1 Aug 2006 at 6:12 am. 8 Comments.
Filed under m-Commerce.

Last week was my first attempt at using the TickeTXT service of Smart in SM Megamall.
TickeTXT allows Smart subscribers to buy cinema tickets through texting and Smart Money.
I gave it a try and was half-expecting that the service will fail. I just wanted to know how it will fail.
I was right, the service didn’t work […]

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Globe’s G-Pass for the MRT

Published on 31 Jul 2006 at 6:40 am. 38 Comments.
Filed under m-Commerce.

G-Pass made it’s debut last Friday at the MRT stations from Cubao to Ayala. I tried it out myself. I’d say it’s pleasantly better than I was expecting.
Here’s some additional info that people should know about …
What is G-Pass?
An alternative way to enter the MRT using a chip instead of a ticket. The G-Pass is […]

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G-Cash and 2Go is a No-Go

Published on 28 Jul 2006 at 12:29 pm. 2 Comments.
Filed under m-Commerce.

In September 2005, I found out that LBC withdrew their G-Cash partnership with Globe.
Here’s another G-Cash fallout: 2Go, the courier delivery service of Aboitiz, no longer conducts G-Cash transactions.
Once upon a time, 2Go offered Cash-out services (convert G-Cash to Cash).
I spoke to 2Go staff at Megamall and they said the volume of transactions is too […]

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The way to go: Why they haven’t gone that way

Published on 27 Jul 2006 at 7:04 am. 9 Comments.
Filed under m-Commerce.

(Follow-up to m-Commerce in the Philippines: The way to go)
Yesterday, I proposed a way to make G-Cash as ubiquitous as AutoloadMax. Basically, Globe just needs to apply the same distribution principle of AutoloadMax on G-Cash. Then, there’ll be 800,000 points of cash-in/cash-out throughout the country.
Why hasn’t this solution been implemented? My theories:
a.) Because Globe and Smart Money […]

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m-Commerce in the Philippines: The way to go

Published on 26 Jul 2006 at 6:55 am. 11 Comments.
Filed under m-Commerce.

I spoke to an American development finance consultant last April - Mark Pickens from The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). In that conversation, I told him that until now, there is still no viable and compelling business model for G-Cash and Smart Money merchants. That is one reason for the slow uptake of […]

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G-Cash is offering free cash-in

Published on 25 Jul 2006 at 6:38 am. 4 Comments.
Filed under m-Commerce.

Globe (and its partner merchants) usually charges P10 or 1% of amount for each conversion from cash to G-Cash (referred to as “cash-in”).
I always thought this service charge didn’t make sense and it’s always been my position that this cash-in service charge should be scrapped.
An advertisement came out last Saturday saying that G-Cash […]

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G-Pass: Use your Cellphone to Enter the MRT

Published on 24 Jul 2006 at 6:50 am. 7 Comments.
Filed under m-Commerce.

Finally, some indication of how the MRT will enable commuters to use their cellphones to enter the MRT stations.
The MRT ticketing system is up for a technology upgrade that will allow commuters to reload their MRT tickets using their cellphone. So says an article in the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) special section on Sunday Bulletin […]

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G-nius - The G-Cash contest reloaded

Published on 27 Jun 2006 at 6:51 am. 4 Comments.
Filed under m-Commerce.

I saw a poster of G-nius, a contest of Globe for students.

The contest calls for students to create innovative uses of G-Cash.

Some of the criteria:

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More G-Cash experiences

Published on 9 Mar 2006 at 6:07 am. No Comments.
Filed under m-Commerce.

Here’s a story I gathered from my colleague who was trying out G-Cash.

She went to a National Bookstore branch in Glorietta, she wanted to make a purchase using G-Cash. When she was at the cashier, she was told that the particular branch was no longer accepting G-Cash payments. (Note, this is the same branch referred to in my 2004 story: G-Cash - My Accidental Friday G-mmick)

She dropped the purchase and headed on to SM Makati.

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G-Cash for the sari-sari store

Published on 8 Mar 2006 at 6:04 am. 4 Comments.
Filed under ICT4D, m-Commerce.

I explained that if G-Cash opened up to small entrepreneurs and offered a more solid business proposition for these small entrepreneurs, G-Cash presence could spread like wild-fire (to a certain degree) the same way AutoloadMax presence has hit a nation-wide level of penetration.

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M-Commerce ideas become reality

Published on 7 Mar 2006 at 6:49 am. 6 Comments.
Filed under ICT4D, m-Commerce, Edong's Dreams.

I had a discussion with a Filipina consultant based in Washington D.C. and my colleague who’s doing a case on m-commerce for microfinance. Our discussion revolved around developments in m-commerce in the Philippines and its replicability in other countries such as Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

As I’ve said before, when it comes to mobile commerce, the world is watching the Philippines!

There were a couple of developments which I find very interesting.

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infoDev Report on m-Commerce

Published on 3 Mar 2006 at 6:32 am. No Comments.
Filed under ICT4D, m-Commerce.

The proliferation of mobile communications in developing countries has
the potential to bring a wide range of financial services to an
entirely new customer base. This report explores the use of mobile
phones to expand financial services in the Philippines.

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Cinema tickets via cellphone

Published on 22 Feb 2006 at 6:46 am. 11 Comments.
Filed under m-Commerce, Gadgets.

How do you sell cinema tickets via a cellphone?

Smart found a way. They call it Ticketxt – Mobile Ticketing System.

I wrote about Ticketxt last month, but saw the mechanics of the system and the barcode scanner only a few days ago.

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Messed up Smart Money messages

Published on 14 Feb 2006 at 12:51 pm. 2 Comments.
Filed under m-Commerce.

Every now and then, I get a message alert that appear to be SpaSMS (unsolicited SMS messages). Upon further inspection, they turn out to be legitimate messages from my telco, not to say that I agree with what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. Here’s a sequence of messages from Smart…

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