Coin: One Card to Rule Them All!
Coin gives you one card to rule them all: credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, loyalty cards…; http://eicker.at/Coin
Coin gives you one card to rule them all: credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, loyalty cards…; http://eicker.at/Coin
Google launches Google Wallet on Sprint: checkout wirelessly via Citi MasterCard, Pepaid Card; http://eicker.at/GoogleWallet
Google: “In May we announced Google Wallet – an app that makes your phone your wallet – with Citi, MasterCard, Sprint and First Data. With Google Wallet, you can tap, pay and save using your phone and near field communication (NFC). – We’ve been testing it extensively, and today we’re releasing the first version of the app to Sprint. That means we’re beginning to roll out Google Wallet to all Sprint Nexus S 4G phones through an over-the-air update – just look for the ‘Wallet’ app. … Google Wallet enables you to pay with your Citi MasterCard credit card and the Google Prepaid Card, which can be funded with any of your existing plastic credit cards. As a thanks to early adopters, we’re adding a $10 free bonus to the Google Prepaid Card if you set it up in Google Wallet before the end of the year.”
Google: “Google Wallet is a mobile app that will make your phone your wallet. It stores virtual versions of your existing plastic cards on your phone, along with your coupons, and eventually, loyalty and gift cards. Our intention is that Google Wallet will be an open mobile wallet holding all the cards and coupons you keep in your leather wallet today. … NFC is a wireless technology that enables data transmission between two objects when they are brought within a few inches of each other. Smartphones enabled with NFC technology can exchange data with other NFC enabled devices or read information from smart tags embedded in posters, stickers, and other products. … Google Checkout is a service that enables merchants to accept and process online payments. Google Wallet, on the other hand, is a mobile app that enables users to tap and pay at physical, brick and mortar stores. … The Google Prepaid Card allows you to use Google Wallet even if you don’t have an eligible Citi MasterCard. It is a virtual card powered by MasterCard and Money Network. You can fund this prepaid card with any of your existing plastic credit cards. And since it’s purely virtual, you won’t get a physical plastic card in the mail. You can tap and pay immediately after funds are added.”
TC: “Bummed by the limited launch? Don’t be. This somewhat-cautious approach is really the only way they could do it: NFC is still a relatively new technology, with a complicated network of partners, and, most importantly, involves your money. Google is really the first company with the power to move the world towards NFC – but even for them, it’s going to be something of an uphill battle, and they’ll have to take things one small step at a time. – Fortunately, Google also just announced their next (small step) huge leap: support for Visa, Discover, and American Express cards.”
pC: “For the moment, Google Offers is only available in cities in the U.S. That means the purchase of the Daily Deal site could give Google an easy route to ramping up the service in Europe as well. … In May, when Wallet and Offers were announced by Stephanie Tilenius, Google’s VP of commerce, she described how Wallet would be about more than just payments, and would also be used for loyalty programs, check-ins and other transactions. … Google is not the only one working in these areas: on the deals front it is already competing against dominant Groupon, big LivingSocial, and fast-rising Amazon, among many others.”
P2P virtual currency: Bitcoin transactions offer direct payments, cut out banks, any other middle man; http://eicker.at/Bitcoin
Hitwise: The NYT paywall impact is strong. Visits -5% to -15%, page views -11% to -30%; http://eicker.at/NYTPaywallImpact
Focus Online tries charging for online articles with Google One Pass; http://eicker.at/GoogleOnePass
iPad opportunities for communications: capacity, payment, tolerance, intimacy, accessibility, connectivity; http://eicker.at/1a
PayPal starts offering Web and mobile micropayment for virtual goods: news at FT.com, games on Facebook; http://eicker.at/13
PayPal: “PayPal today announced the upcoming availability of PayPal for digital goods, a new in-context, frictionless payment solution that lets consumers pay for digital goods and content in as little as two clicks, without ever having to leave a publisher’s game, news, music, video or media site. The online equivalent of dropping a quarter in the slot to buy a newspaper or play a video game, PayPal’s new solution solves a key problem for the digital goods industry by offering a faster, safer and more cost-effective way to send and receive micropayments globally. … Because PayPal for digital goods is built on PayPal’s sophisticated fraud prevention engine, developers don’t have to worry about building the systems required to protect customers’ sensitive financial information.”
PayPal Digital Goods: “An easy, low-cost way to collect payments for all types of digital goods including games, virtual goods and gifts, software and online media such as ebooks, enews, music, and videos. And, digital goods providers who offer PayPal also have access to PayPal’s active global account holders and network of established relationships with international financial and banking institutions.”
pC: “[PayPal’s] new Mobile Express Checkout allows users to opt-in and remain logged in across mobile apps to make purchases in two clicks. Starbucks will use it to reload of Starbucks Cards directly from its Starbucks Card Mobile app for iPhone and iPod touch. A beta program taps into location-based services on the phone. The new iPhone PayPal app will allow users to find businesses nearby that accept PayPal for mobile payments. Finally, VeriFone is partnering with PayPal to offer merchants the ability to take credit card and PayPal payments in their store – or anywhere – using an application.”
VB: “The announcement comes as eBay continues to focus more on PayPal rather than on its online auctions as the primary revenue stream for the company. Just last quarter, eBay’s auction revenues stopped growing more than 10 percent year-over-year for the first time since late 2009, while PayPal continued to grow at a steady rate. – But this isn’t the first time PayPal has made some kind of promise to jump on board with micropayments. In fact, the company has said it would explore this opportunity for the past six years.”
AF: “PayPal is already one of the payment methods for Facebook Credits but the new system means that Facebook users won’t even have to leave the site to authenticate their purchase. … The lack of a good micro-payment system has been holding back the monetization of digital content for some time. PayPal’s new service, with faster payment and lower fees, could be an important part of the solution, though I hope the company doesn’t end up with a monopoly.”
IF: “PayPal is broadly focusing on social, mobile and local, company product development vice president Osama Beider said on stage at the event today. The focus comes as these markets have exploded, helping to drive PayPal’s own revenue – and spur a variety of alternative payment competitors.”
Schlesinger: The rules of today’s journalistic world. Simple? No. But exciting and transforming; http://eicker.at/Journalism
Schlesinger: “A publishing ethos is not defined by the number of stories we deliver. It is defined by our ability to keep our clients tuned in and returning. We will do that with a heightened knowledge of what they need, and with focused breaking news and insight that is fast, relevant, actionable and engaging. … I’m as excited about content that gets created in a chatroom by journalists and readers interacting together as I am about a good story being pushed out. Sometimes I’m even more excited because the intelligent interaction between people who all know something about a topic can create a much smarter product than any one writer struggling at the computer alone. – Is it journalism? – Sometimes it is pure journalism. Sometimes it’s commentary. Sometimes it’s just a sharing of ideas or the annotating of a graphic. … The rules of today’s journalistic world are these:
– Knowing the story is not enough.
– Telling the story is only the beginning.
– The conversation about the story is as important as the story itself.
– The more you try to be paternalistic and authoritative, the less people will believe you.
– The more you cede control to your audience, the more people will respect you
– The more you embrace new technology as a platform, the more your ideas will compete.
– The more you abandon the faceless and characterless, the more you can set the agenda
– The more you look beyond the story for connections, the more value you will have.
– And if you have value and no one else does, you will get paid.
Simple? No. But it is exciting and transforming.“
Gerrit Eicker 09:14 on 16. November 2013 Permalink |
Coin: “What is a Coin? Coin is a connected device that can hold and behave like the cards you already carry. Coin works with your debit cards, credit cards, gift cards, loyalty cards and membership cards. Instead of carrying several cards you carry one Coin. Multiple accounts and information all in one place. – How do I get my cards onto a Coin? Our mobile app will allow you to add, manage and sync the cards that you choose to store on your Coin. The process of adding card information to the mobile app is very simple and is done by taking a picture or two and swiping your Coin through a small device we provide you with. – How much does a Coin cost? Each Coin costs $100. For you early adopters there is a very limited quantity that can be purchased for $50.”
TC: “We are, I believe, in an interstitial zone when it comes to payments. Credit cards are still king – just ask Square – and NFC is just a dream in most countries. That’s why Coin is so interesting. It’s a credit-card-sized device that holds other credit cards, allowing you to swap from card to card and even store gift cards inside its ultra-thin innards. – The company planned a pre-order campaign that would top out at $50,000. They blew past that goal in 40 minutes today, a testament to the desire for folks to leave their plastic at home.”
MA: “With so much energy spent towards turning smartphones into digital wallets, Coin’s idea seems a bit like a throwback, or at least a stopgap solution until those initiatives go mainstream. (Coin’s debut coincided with the U.S. launch of Isis, a mobile wallet initiative backed by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.) Assuming the traditional wallet sticks around for a while, though, Coin might carve its own niche, especially if it can somehow incorporate drivers’ licenses, tickets and library cards, among other stubbornly analog forms of ID.”
ATD: “The company raised a seed round for prototyping from K9 Ventures, Sherpa Ventures, and a handful of angel investors. And today it is launching a crowdfunding campaign on its own site to raise at least $50,000 to start manufacturing, with the goal of shipping next summer. It won’t say how much it raised in seed funding, perhaps because that number would hurt its crowdfunding campaign. The device will retail for $100, with crowdfunding contributors getting it for $50. – In the end, maybe business owners will freak out and refuse to accept the card for some reason. Maybe there aren’t enough people who have the big-wallet problem that I do. Or maybe this is indeed the future of in-store payments. – Whatever the case, I’d start using it tomorrow if I could.”
GO: “Though Coin has seed funding, as a hardware company it still needs to raise funds for manufacturing, Parashar said. It’s launching the product with crowdfunding, hoping to raise $50,000, though it’s not taking to Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Instead it’s taking pre-orders for the device on its website. The first backers will get the device for $50, though it will retail for $100, Parashar said. He expects the first shipments will go to buyers next summer. – I’ll give Parashar credit. Coin’s a novel concept. Unlike other mobile payments companies Coin’s not trying to replace the leather wallet with a digital one. But it’s trying to make that physical wallet a lot less bulky.”
VB: “Coin reminds me of the Card 2.0 from Dynamics, a company which offers similar technology for holding multiple cards in a single card. But while Dynamics has gone on to form partnerships with big payments companies, Coin is directly targeting consumers. – Coin is based in San Francisco and has raised funds from Y Combinator and K9 Ventures. The company plans to announce a new funding round soon.”
TNW: “In short, this is a card to replace all of your cards. Until mobile payment apps are truly commonplace across the world, Coin seems like the best alternative. It’s similar to the Wallaby Card, although Coin gives you greater control over which credit, debit, or gift card you’re using at any given moment. If it means we can finally leave our wallet or purse at home, we’re certainly interested.“