As with any new commercial proposition, the early stages of development are extremely important to its ultimate success or failure. Mobey Forum believes that the most effective way for the industry to create successful mobile wallet business is by adopting an open systems approach in which any mobile wallet can access and be served by multiple content providers.
Executive Summary
It is important to set out and understand how the mobile wallet ecosystem can be influenced by various stakeholders. An essential component of mobile wallet operation that enables a mobile wallet stakeholder to influence how a part of the ecosystem operates is defined as control point. Mobey Forum suggests that a clear description of specific control points would be helpful, because that shows how the many different stakeholders can become involved and influence the building and operation of the mobile wallet ecosystem.
Mobey Forum has identified the following control points:
- Connection from and to the mobile wallet: Controls which types of mobile device, operating system and mobile wallet implementation can be connected to relevant services and controls the delivery of content according to the designated user level.
- Distribution channels for the mobile wallet: Controls the distribution of the mobile wallet and application to the user.
- Customer acquisition and enrollment: Controls how users are signed up to mobile wallet services. Acquisition and enrolment is key because it controls the main access route to existing customer segments and marketing channels.
- Bearer / connection technology: Controls the various bearers and connection technologies needed for interaction between the mobile wallet on the device and relevant services.
- Channels to get value into and out of the mobile wallet: Controls how users put funds into their mobile wallets and how they can transfer value to a merchant or other individual.
- Data flow: The data flow to and from the mobile wallet can be controlled by a variety of stakeholders and intermediaries.
- Data ownership: The variety of data around mobile wallets is wide, encompassing payments, commerce, products, location, preferences, loyalty and more. The use of such data should always be under the consent of the end user.
These control points help to manage how a mobile wallet is set up and used. The first three control points in the list above govern mobile wallet initiation. They help to ensure the user has the right device and determine how the mobile wallet application is installed on the mobile wallet and how the user activates the installed mobile wallet.
The other control points enable the mobile wallet to be used. They manage how the mobile wallet connects to the network, how the data flow is organized, which stakeholder has access to this data and how the value gets into and out of the mobile wallet.
These control points provide a framework for stakeholders to cooperate in the operation of the mobile wallet. They also enable a clear understanding of who controls specific aspects of the mobile wallet and to help avoid conflict between overlapping stakeholder interests.
Mobey Forum defines a mobile wallet as: A Mobile Wallet is functionality on a mobile device that can securely interact with digitized valuables.
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