Technobiography

Remittance: London to Philippines

The English Man >> I was wondering what you thought would be needed in order to increase adoption and use of Smart money?

I:> A couple of things come to mind:
1.) reduce barriers to entry in two ways:
a.) remove the registration fee (P200 to cover the cost of the card and an annual fee)
b.) simplify the procedure - at this time, users are still required to fill out a form at a Smart center.
2.) reduce costs - Smart Money transaction costs run up to P2.50 per transaction-message sent.
3.) Increase Smart Money services that do not require the card - although the Smart Money card is an edge they have over G-Cash (the card can be used at a credit card POS or ATM), the larger part of the possible market does not need the card. Thus, these users will need to have other compelling reasons (services, products) before they start using Smart Money.

These are just some of the things Smart Money needs to do. Of course they have to strategize, to choose where to bring the battle of m-commerce services. But due to their circuitous procedures, it will require a lot more development time for them to innovate compared to G-Cash.

Edwin

I: > 2.) reduce costs - Smart Money transaction costs run up to P2.50
> per transaction-message sent.

He >> As you can imagine, where I come from, this is not very much at all,
certainly it’s a lot less than Paypal/Ebay might charge, in the west
at least, which can range from P50 to P500 depending on the item
value, and also cheaper than charges for using Visa cards and so on.
I suppose it depends on how much the transaction is. 2.5 sounds
reasonable to me for a P100 or higher transaction, but if most are
lower, then its probably too much.

He >> Would I be right that most small transactions in Phils are still in
cash? In UK by now most payments are with debit cards and cash is
used in maybe only 50% of transactions or even less.

I : > 3.) Increase Smart Money services that do not require the card -
> although the Smart Money card is an edge they have over G-Cash (the
> card can be used at a credit card POS or ATM), the larger part of
> the possible market does not need the card. Thus, these users will
> need to have other compelling reasons (services, products) before
> they start using Smart Money.

He >> We’ve set up cards for our family members there, since it’s cheaper
than remittance via PNB, and much cheaper than Western Union. What
are the main benefits though of having the card? Is it just that you
can withdraw the money at an ATM, instead of just smart centers and
their partners (and less usefully, use it to pay for items in shops
that accept mastercard?)

I: > These are just some of the things Smart Money needs to do. Of
> course they have to strategize, to choose where to bring the battle
> of m-commerce services. But due to their circuitous procedures, it
> will require a lot more development time for them to innovate
> compared to G-Cash.

He >> At least in this sense, Phils is far ahead of Uk and Europe, as we
don’t have any kind of mCommerce system in place, unless you count
paying for ringtones (at up to P300 a time!) through your phone bill.
Thats one of the reasons I’m interested in learning about mCommerce
in Phils, it really is ahead of the game. I don’t really know much
about G-Cash, since all our family members are on Smart. Is it much
the same model?

He >> I don’t really know much about G-Cash, since all our family members are on Smart. Is it much the same model?

I:> There are a lot of differences betwen G-Cash and Smart Money.
See: http://technobiography.blogspot.com/2005/07/m-commerce-mano-y-mano-part-4.html

He >> We’ve set them up with Smart money ATM cards - it’s possible for us
to do it from here, through the remittance partner in London, so we
pay the charge and they get the card for ‘free’.

I:> That’s interesting. I’ve heard of this procedure, but it’s the first time to get first hand info about it. Now, it’s my turn to ask you

I:> How many days did it take between application and card delivery?
How much time does it take from handing over your cash remittance until your relatives in the Philippines receive an SMS alert?

To be continued tomorrow …