As a user, not a possible solution provider, I can see that in the same way I choose a universal emailID, I could choose an e-invoice/statement managing service too.
Given that email is ubiquitous, I think my current lifelong universal emailID provider could step up with an application/service which sorts such emails into a folder, perhaps identifying which are invoices for payment and which are statements for archiving. If they do not, then I can at least poin tthe email forwarding to a service which does. In fact, someone should just create an Outlook plugin where I can define rules for organising such e-invoices. It would help if there was an e-invoice standard, and standard ways to identfy these types of email. Nice idea. My emailID is fine as an identifier - better than a phone number which can change or be re-allocated to another.
19 Jan 2011 13:18 Read comment
Right. It will never happen. In the end, its up to individuals to decide where they want e-invoices and e-statements to be delivered, and perhaps file them away electronically from there. With multiple email accounts, it is easy for them to get spread about, but its also not too bad to add forewarding rules so that they end up in one place (or just choose one main emailID).
Personally, I use a universal email ID which simply forwards to wherever I want, so in case gmail goes bust I can re-direct it (but I admit to having more issues with my universal email provider than gmail !).
Its a real problem though. I recently got Bill Shock because my broadband usage limit was exceeded and I was stung for excess data charges for 4-5 months without knowing. When I realised, it was because they had been 'contacting me' through my contracted email ID - one which I never used. Indeed there were dozens of warnings waiting there - non of them read. They could have just picked up the phone, but then they wouldn't have squeezed more than £200 from me. I'll remember and dump them when I can as a result - that's one downside of providers switching you to e-invoicing - increased churn?
19 Jan 2011 09:42 Read comment
Maybe the biggest challenge to to deliver on the 'independent' tag. The trouble is normally that customers cannot/do not trust that advice is un-influenced. Aggregating personal finance is a good thing though. We all have too many online accesses to make & 10k Pilot users is impressive.
19 Jan 2011 09:31 Read comment
Amazing indeed. Its not every day there's a revolution. 2011 could be the year of revolution, but these days the pesky ill gotten(some say) funds can follow the ousted very easily. So it will be a long time before they run out of places to holiday. Unfortunately with revolutions, you don't always end up with who you want in control - just the ones with the muscle to take it. Although 1979 Iran is an old example where they got what they thought they wanted - but it was out of the pan and into the fire.
17 Jan 2011 15:27 Read comment
Well, I like the eBay type approach where a charitable donation is requested at checkout. I can choose, without pressure, if I want to support that charity and how much for. I 'trust' that eBay is actually passing that money on. When 'buying' something, its easy to add a small charge ontop for charity, and it even appears separately on my bank account so that the charity get the tax benefit too.
I'd much rather the Banks focused on the 'charity begins at home' message and figure a way to give a very small part of their dealings to charity themselves. I think the Robin Hood tax is promoting just that.
In fact I think that topic deserves a Finextra blog all on its own, from anyone that knows more about it than I.
12 Jan 2011 11:02 Read comment
Ah.
Yes that interview is fascinating. Very frank. Often tangential and a little jarring. All those pioneers of the 40s-50s seemed to have a different pace of life and set of goals. Measured in decades and plaudits where now we aspire to years and dollars.
I never realised Rutherford was a New Zealander either!
10 Jan 2011 13:19 Read comment
Funny Matt. Right on.
I thought it was the guy who invented the 'cyclotron' http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bllawrence.htm
And the Manhattan Project didn't provide a clue:
http://inventors.about.com/od/astartinventions/a/atomic_bomb.htm
So a bit or research revealed that you must mean Samuel T. Cohen - inventor of the neutron bomb. A challenging find. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/us/02cohen.html
btw - If you want a list of Oz inventors, some more worthy than others, then look here: http://www.whitehat.com.au/australia/Inventions/InventionsA.html
My favourite is Dr. John O'Sullivan who invented the modern WiFi system. Frying our gray matter like the neutron bomb, but more slowly.
10 Jan 2011 11:27 Read comment
Brilliant and just the right response.
07 Jan 2011 04:45 Read comment
Aw, shucks. A true born-again story. Seriously, thanks for the interesting, informative and entertaining posts - always good stuff.
07 Jan 2011 04:42 Read comment
Good effort, but we don't get many 'lively debates' on Finextra. A couple of replies is a good effort ;)
NFC will continue it creeping rollout (because the card issuers are pushing it), but it has very little to do with 'mobile payments'. The only difference seems to be that instead of wafting you NFC card from your wallet, you waft your mobile phone infrom of the NFC enabled reader instead. Its not your mobile account that gets billed, its your NFC linked bank account.
Mobile Payments is about being able to pay for stuff 'with your mobile and applied to your mobile pre or post paid bill'. In effect, this is defined by the Payforit scheme in the UK and offered via Payment Intermediaries (like OpenMarket). There are rules for stopping recurring charge bill shock subscriptions, and 'double opt-in' flows to be really sure the consumer knows what they are buying. Consequently there is a big disadvantage compared to the 'tap and go' vision of NFC.
How about - make the phone itself the POS terminal. Have the merchant bluetooth/NFC the bill to the phone, the phone relays the charge to their mobile operator, the merchant gets a confirmation and the success of the payment and (optionally) hands you a receipt. You get a SMS receipt too.
Sending a SMS payment like PayPal mobile or m-pesa is also cheap and nasty and works, but not great when standing at the bar.
07 Jan 2011 04:09 Read comment
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