You Can Use Cash, Credit And Now Cell Phone
Tuesday, October 28, 2008, 2:26 PM | Leave Comment
“Cash may still be king, but on the streets of Japan there’s a new rival for the throne. Millions of people there use their mobile phones to buy everything from vending-machine sodas to train tickets.”
This is how the article, dated October 1, 2008, starts on cfo.com written by Yasmin Ghahremani. Mobile phones may soon change the way Americans buy.
Mobile phones may soon change the way Americans buy.
This is what the report says…
“To pay, a user passes a chip-enabled handset over a compatible reader. Credit is then deducted from a stored-value account provided by NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s dominant cell-phone carrier. Transactions take a fraction of a second to complete, pleasing customers and merchants alike.”
“In addition, consumers can use their phones to buy products over the mobile Web, or download digital music. And losing your phone is not the same as losing your wallet, because the handset can be remotely disabled.”
But that’s Japan. In spite of all these easy credits and easy payment methods and not seeing cash at all, the saving rate of average Japanese family is well over 10%. Here in the States, the last two quarters has seen savings shrinking down to less than 1%. Yap! it’s less than 1%.
With the, up until now, easy credit, it is hard for us to keep up with expenses as it is and piling up the credit balance on our bills. When the “cash, credit, or cell phones?” gets common in our everyday lives, money owed on bills would hit the roof.
“To date, however, the convenience of simply waving such a device in front of a compatible reader has not ignited the U.S. market. That’s because American consumers are already flush with credit and debit cards, many of which don’t even require signatures for purchases under $25. And merchants are heavily invested in the point-of-sale infrastructure that goes with them.”
Is using Mobile phone this way good for the American public even when this credit crunch has well over passed us? I like technology but considering the spending habits of the Americans, it will be good for merchants. However, sooner or later, it will come back to haunt us.
We are trying, somehow – I don’t think anybody knows how except to put one foot on breaks of spending, to get out of this economic mess. I mean the American people, the individuals, the families who are trying to cope with the situation they are in.
There will definitely be a bombardment of advertisements on any media you can think of, once hopefully most people would get some room to breath out of this crises.
America! As long as you use it wisely, I don’t see any harm in it. Some people have already started using it during the last two years. But old habits, as they say, die hard. The way we have used the easy credit available to us, I can imagine it will be a big hit with the American public.
P.S. Think about this statement.
“Government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” A wise woman once said: “Substitute Advertisement for Government.” That’s how we have lived by: “Advertisement of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
But then again, America was built on spending. We must, however, prioritize our spending.
In a Nutshell
Read the full article, dated October 1, 2008, on cfo.com by Yasmin Ghahremani.
