Sunday, June 5th, 2011 | 2 comments | B.J. Kharrazi
Source: Catalyst House
In 2006 Douglas Rushkoff, when asked The Edge Question, “What is the most dangerous idea?,” replied, “open source currency.”
Well now a new P2P digital currency, called Bitcoin, may provide the ideal medium to engage in commerce outside the official economy and – it’s decentralized, anonymous, and its supply is moderated by a mathematical formula to automatically deflate it over time. A truly dangerous idea.
So what is a Bitcoin?
Monday, August 30th, 2010 | no comments | B.J. Kharrazi
And that’s just for the first half of 2010.
The smartphone app market continues to grow – in total volume of downloads and sales, the mobile app market is growing fast, beating 2009 numbers in just the first half of 2010. That’s the analysis from Research2Guidance.com, who reported this week that the global smartphone apps market reached $2.2 billion in the first half of 2010 – topping the $1.7 billion in revenue for all of 2009.
From Rich Karpinski | ConnectedPlanetOnline.com -
Downloads are growing rapidly too, reaching 3.9 billion in the first half of this year versus 3.1 billion for all of last year.
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 | 2 comments | B.J. Kharrazi
Sources: Bloomberg News & Disinfo.com
Major cellphone carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon are beta-testing new features intended to “supplant more than 1 billion plastic cards in American wallets” – by allowing subscribers make credit card buys using their mobile phones!
It’s already happening in Japan, Turkey and the U.K., with cellphones being waved over an in-store reader to consumate purchases. “This is definitely a game-changer,” an analyst told Bloomberg news, saying that already cellphone carriers are “the biggest recurring billers in every market. They are experts at processing payments.” And the concept is already being cheered on by retailers. “We have long argued that real competition is missing from today’s payments market,” one industry spokesperson added.
Sunday, July 11th, 2010 | no comments | B.J. Kharrazi
From American Banker June 24, 2010: With preferences for carrying and using cash continuing to drop, more consumers expect merchants to accept debit or credit cards for payment. But not all merchants do, especially those that lack physical storefronts. Some industry insiders believe mobile-based products might help encourage them to accept electronic payments.
Indeed – Judging from the discussions among peers at recent industry conferences and the spate of mobile-based products and services entering the market, the topic is on the minds of many in the industry as they consider their business plans.
Today, business owners on the go have more options, when it comes to processing credit card transactions, with smart-phone and cell phone credit card processing applications offering the potential for higher sales, faster collections and many fewer bad debts.
Sunday, June 27th, 2010 | 1 comment | B.J. Kharrazi
No longer are the days when credit card terminals cost a lot to purchase or lease. Many seemingly legitimate merchant service processors hawk free credit card machines. The Internet is thoroughly spammed with FREE CREDIT CARD PROCESSING TERMINAL come-ons.
Are free credit card machine offers legit and worth it?
Often they are NOT. Many unsuspecting merchants are falling prey to ‘aggressive’ merchant service agents. There is no such thing as a free lunch, or a free $500 wireless credit card machine, it would appear.
So what’s the catch with the free credit card machine offers?
Simple – no merchant account, no free credit card machine. But even more germane, it’s “free,” but you don’t own it, and it actually costs you more. Sounds like a riddle, yes?
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 | no comments | B.J. Kharrazi
A new study from Juniper Research has found that the value of mobile payments for digital and physical goods, money transfers and NFC (Near Field Communications) transactions will reach almost $630bn by 2014, up from $170bn this year, representing the gross value of all purchases or the value of money being transferred.
The mobile payments report revealed that growth across all market segments was being driven by the wide adoption of Smartphones and the increased use of apps stores. In addition SMS ticketing schemes such as those offered by OBB Austrian Railways and Skane Traffic in Sweden were also important developments. Shopping by mobile at stores such as Amazon Mobile is also tipped for significant expansion over the next five years.
