A flawed business model?

It comes as no big surprise to me that Monitise are making further losses. With a business model that charges customers for transactions that they can get for free from many other channels, 20p for a balance enquiry, it’s no wonder that the consumers are staying away in their droves.

Today the technology is ready, but it’s not moving towards applications being installed on the phone, it’s moving to thin client. With the likes of the iPhone bringing high quality browsers to the phone, the hand held device is just now getting to the state where it is able to support the demands of the person on the move.

The banks have leapt on this failing bandwagon as a quick way to put a toe in the market that bit them a few years ago when they tried it before the technology was ready. But they will move away when they have their own, better thought through offerings. Banks don’t move quickly, but when they do they have a lot of power behind them.

Not withstanding Alastair Lukies charisma, the product is doomed to failure, in my opinion. The Banks want to brand their product to differentiate their offering in a market that is quickly becoming commoditised. Why would they push a second rate service that gives the banks little, the customers little and unless more people fall for it, will give Monitise little.