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Citi's bank-branded mobile handset

31 Mar, 2008 11:26

From the public filings of the US Federal Communications Commission - a mobile phone manufactured by Mobicom but branded by Citibank. The phone has no numeric keypad but instead uses basic navigation buttons to interact with onscreen menus. Features include an MP3 player, speakerphone, PIN entry and NFC technology for making credit card payments.

Citi has yet to make a public pronouncement on its plans for the phone (if any), but it holds interesting possibilities: 'Sign up for our mobile banking service and get a free bank-branded handset'.

As a long-term customer engagement strategy it beats the free iPod promotions run by Citi in the past.

Comments

Added: 31 March, 2008 - 16:10 | David Hough - GreenKite Consulting - manchester

a good piece of forward thinking - be interesting if they get it to a public pilot...ultimately it has to be handset/telco provider agnostic for me, although i could see it doing well in some segments

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Added: 01 April, 2008 - 00:19 | Dean Procter - Transinteract - Sydney

I agree on the need for ubiquity. A proprietary handset approach is doomed, who's running the show there? I suggest they start lookng for another job now - or was that their job advertised on Finextra recently.

I give it a week after introduction before hackers ruin Citi's plans anyway. It would just be too hot a target and Citi customers tend to have more money than the average Indian farmer, so a low security and proprietary software in the handset based approach isn't a realistic option.

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Added: 01 April, 2008 - 06:46 | Dean Procter - Transinteract - Sydney

I just had to add how attractive I think they are (not). What do you think - a real consumer winner like the iPod?

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It;s another argument for banks to stay in the banking business. I have a great name for it - rhymes with citi.....

Forward thinking (behind me) but fails in the execution.

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