NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, October 31, 2013

“This ancient technology [cash] is still used by 7 billion people to transact 50 percent of the world’s gross domestic product,” said Harrabin, a recognized industry expert who oversaw every key development of Safaricom’s M-PESA, the world’s most dominant mobile money player. “But consumers, businesses, merchants and banks are ready to replace notes and coins with a much more secure and convenient, cheaper and faster, mobile payment solution.”

And if the idea of widespread adoption of mobile payments services still seems too revolutionary, bear in mind that it’s not the first time our payment methods have undergone a significant change: Think of the credit card. Today’s struggling mobile payment initiatives can learn a valuable history lesson from its success — that the process for onboarding or acquiring new customers for new payment initiatives has to be effortless from the consumers’ perspective (or they won’t want to try it).