Canada Telecoms Launch Mobile Payment Service 107
GregDz11 writes to inform us that Canada's three main wireless companies will be launching a service that allows customers to send, request, and receive money via their mobile phones. "The service, called Zoompass, will be managed by Enstream, a joint venture the three carriers first established in 2005, when it was called Wireless Payment Services, to investigate the potential of mobile commerce. [...] Money can be drawn from an account the user sets up or from their credit card. Each withdrawal will cost 50 cents from the account, or 3.5 per cent of the transaction if from a credit card. (As a result, sending dollar amounts under $15 are actually cheaper to do using a credit card.)"
Heh... will the phones look like this? (Score:2, Interesting)
possible early prototype? [japanator.com]
Oh, I guess not, the limit in the article is only $1,000 not 10 Million Yen...
Re:mobile is where it's at (Score:5, Interesting)
As if there needs to be another way to sink (lots of) money into the black hole that are commercial celphones. I'm still trying to figure out how to actually get Telus' "$15/mo unlimted text messages" to actually only cost $15/mo.
Android/wifi/skype pls hrrythfckup.
R
While my guitar gently weeps.
40 cents too much (Score:5, Interesting)
If they're hoping to take over a significant share of transactions between private individuals (aka "consumers"), they're in for a rude shock. The service is grossly overpriced. Cash is free and most people get a certain number of free cheques / free withdrawls on their bank plans. Ten cents a transaction *might* be cheap enough
Re:mobile is where it's at (Score:2, Interesting)
I was an early cell phone adopter, relatively speaking. I wasn't "early early" but I got one very early in the "push to mass market" phase of the Canadian business...about 1992 or 1993.
I'm so tired of cell phone companies nickel and diming me, trying to extract every last cent for every single service...roaming rates with Fido were 25 cents/minute which was reasonable. With Rogers? $1/minute. What's changed? Did costs go up with the acquisition? No....just gouging.
Contracts. They don't even discuss non-contracts anymore and Telus sends deceptive renewal letters that don't offer a "do nothing and keep your current plan" option. I mean I know that's an option, but if my mother got one of those...she'd think she had no choice but to do one of the three things, locking herself into a new contract.
When I called last time to change my plan, they told me the per minute rate would go UP. Wait a minute....isn't this supposed to get cheaper as your costs get distributed across a larger subscriber base? They're going UP by 5 cents a minute?
So...my next phone is likely to be a landline, regretfully procured from Telus but a landline nonetheless.
Suck that egg, Mr. Telus.
Because it is not for that (Score:3, Interesting)
Your buddy who you owe $20 for the beer and pizza run does not take Interac or credit cards. That is the target market for this.
Re:Wrong. I take it you are an American? (Score:3, Interesting)
+10 informative about the "most Canadians under 30 don't carry cash" (I'd even say 35 or 40). I'm 37 and I find it odd when I have paper cash in my wallet.