{"id":26509,"date":"2011-07-24T03:38:21","date_gmt":"2011-07-24T02:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=26509"},"modified":"2011-07-24T03:46:39","modified_gmt":"2011-07-24T02:46:39","slug":"mobile-money-virtual-world-calls-for-virtual-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/mobile-money-virtual-world-calls-for-virtual-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Mobile Money Virtual World Calls for Virtual Money"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The following is by G. A . “Andy” Marken, President of Marken Communications<\/span><\/a> Inc. He has kindly given us permission to republish his thought-provoking article. As with everything that we publish at AlienBabelTech, the opinions expressed are solely those of the individual writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and the opinions of the rest of the ABT staff.<\/strong><\/span><\/span> \u2013Mark Poppin,<\/span> ABT Senior Editor<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cWhat’s he doing? Go back there man! He wants to kill me so bad he can taste it! Huh? ATTICA! ATTICA! ATTICA! ATTICA ATTICA! ATTICA! ATTICA! ATTICA! ATTICA! ATTICA! \u201c\u2013 Sonny, \u201cDog Day Afternoon,\u201d Warner Bros (1975)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What\u2019s the biggest challenge, stress facing national, state, regional, local governments?\u00a0 What stresses you, your family?
\nIt\u2019s money\u2026dollars, pounds, yen, euro, rupee, peso, rand, won\u2026.you name it.<\/p>\n

Everyone struggles with their annual budget, but it seems like no one stays within it. Just look at the state of the global economy.<\/p>\n

Thank gawd for credit cards!\u00a0 They\u2019re sorta\u2019 like virtual money.<\/p>\n

With nearly everyone, everywhere having a mobile device; heck, we might as go all the way.\u00a0 It would eco-friendly. It\u2019s becoming logical.<\/p>\n

In 20 or 30 years, people will deal in whatever we call digital money then and will say, \u201cCan you believe it they actually used germ-ridden coins and paper in exchange for products, services?\u00a0 How quaint!\u201d<\/p>\n

The IMF (International Monetary Fund) recently reported that only about two billion+ people worldwide have bank accounts.\u00a0 However, there are approximately four billion cell phones (mobile phones of all types).<\/p>\n

In developing countries and cash- based societies in South Asia, Latin America, India, Africa, they may be financially strapped, but mobile communications is everywhere.<\/p>\n

They may not have phone lines to their homes; many don\u2019t even have what you would consider a home.\u00a0 But without the wired infrastructure, they\u2019ve been able to leapfrog your old landline and use m-commerce from the outset.
\nAfrica, the second largest continent on the planet, is home to more than one billion people.<\/p>\n

India is home to more than 600 million people (90 percent of the transactions are in cash, compared to 14 percent in the U.S.) so using super-cheap cell phones and m-commerce was a snap.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Figure 2 \u2013 Cash Anywhere \u2013 Services such as Obopay have become well-accepted in highly populated, lower-income countries such as the African continent, India and Southeast Asia to transfer funds almost anywhere without the need for paper cash.\u00a0 The mobile phone service is also popular because banks are few and far between.\u00a0 Mobile payments are growing slowly in industrial countries because of the strong banking infrastructure and rush for every player to be involved\u2026somehow.\u00a0 Source – Obopay<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These people quickly found it easier to pay \u2013 or send money to someone \u2013 with a cellphone than it is to give them a cow, chicken, pig or vegetables as payment.<\/p>\n

And you thought you had it tough carrying around that bulky billfold!<\/p>\n

Of course, m-payment has an ugly side.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great way to hide drug trade, money laundering and terrorism financing activities<\/p>\n

As Sheldon warned, \u201cI wouldn’t like to kill you. I will if I have to.\u2019<\/p>\n

But mobile money has grown rapidly in poorer countries and the potential in industrialized countries is even more promising:<\/p>\n