Gave presentation to the Telecommunications Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) on October 7, 2009, entitled “Will cash become obsolete? E-money, mobile payments and mobile commerce”.
Talk was attended by about 30-40 executives from major global telecom operators, global banks, new-age payment companies, and from major internet companies.
Outline:
What is money?
- Medium of exchange
- Unit of account
- Store of value
- (Standard of deferred payment, unit for debt)
e-Cash value to society:
- reduced cash handling costs
- Higher transaction speed
- Convenience
- Greater security (especially mobile) vs. reduced privacy
Why should be care? (Summary)
- Electronic money is here to stay
- One e-money card/Japanese person
- 2% of banknotes and coins today
- YEN 100 billion outstanding
- YEN 100 billion transactions/month
- Japan is far in advance, rest-of-world is likely to follow. But can Japan capture the value? maybe not.
- However: “Galapagos syndrome“
More information in our reports:
Mobile payments, e-money and mobile credit in Japan
SUICA and NFC payment for transport
QR codes are also used for payment