Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The Emperor without clothes

This is something about the Mobile banking and payment (MB&P - I have decided to acronymise this term now, because I use it such a lot) industry. We have more than our fair share of people and companies that make claims that is so far removed from what is possible and also what they are obviously capable of. This is possibly because such a lot of people have turned MB&P into something romantic - the next big thing...

One of the best know examples of a nude emperor were of course Simpay. While this organisation were busy with grand schemes in Europe, many were modeling their strategies on what Simpay was supposed to deliver. Many millions of dollars were spent on this grand plan that most of the industry was expecting to come true. I recall companies that were basing their whole product strategy on the assumption that Simpay would have dictated the standards for mobile payments. Yet for a lot of us (especially those that were intimately involved with the industry), we did not see any clothes. We did say so, but not too loudly, because others were looking strange at us.

There are other examples, I believe. Some with grand plans and ever more spectacular visions. Who will be brave enough to name them this time round. Well, let me give you a clue: A nude emperor this time round have a name that starts with F and have just been acquired by a company with a name that starts with Q.

What do you think?

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