Mobile Commerce Summit ASIA Together with Smart Communications, Citycell and Bank 2.0’s Author talk about the Mobile Commerce Industry in ASIA

The rise of the Mobile Commerce industry has continued to progress in the region. More and more companies are establishing their own mobile commerce systems or are improving their existing systems to better their organization’s outputs or services.

Singapore 10 March 2010 (AllPayNews) - NEOEDGE’s 3rd mobile Commerce Summit ASIA, together with their partners in continuously drawing the roadmap of the Mobile Commerce Industry, releases a no holds barred interview with Mobile Commerce Experts on the status quo of the mobile commerce space.

NEOEDGE’s aggressive drive in enhancing and sustaining the mobile commerce industry in Asia through the is in response to the region’s need for the next phase of evolution that blends the best on Mobile Payments, Mobile money Transfer and Mobile NFC.

In a candid interview with the Summit’s three speakers – namely Miguel Paraz, who is currently the Development Consultant. Strategic Business Development at SMART COMMUNICATIONS; S.M Zahadul Arafin, who is the Subject Matter Expert of M‐Commerce and Deputy Manager Alternative Revenue Initiatives, Business Development & Strategic Initiatives at Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited, Citycell; Brett King, the author of BANK 2.0 and Chairman of the International Academy of Financial Management and CEO of User Strategy. – what stood out was their drive to share their expertise about the mobile commerce industry.

Q: How is Mobile Commerce evolving in your country/globally?

Miguel Paraz: Globally, Mobile Commerce is more and more exciting with many standards and projects coming into play. SMART is participating by helping define these standards, and building products around them. Traditionally, Mobile Commerce in Manila has been using mechanisms like SMS; now we are moving to Internet-based systems but need to remain friendly to the mass base of non-Internet users. This is where Widgets come in as a platform for new services.

Zahadul Arafin: Mobile Commerce is taking a huge glide here in Bangladesh in a very robust way and By 2010 Bangladesh will be one of the major countries where M-Commerce will be much more flourished. Banks and Telcos are the main initiators and their initiatives are influenced by the Digital Bangladesh Vision 2020 of the current political Goverment. Initially Mobile commerce has been rise through the Mobile recharge/bill payment and then its footprint has been extended to the Utility Bill Payments and now coming with international Remittance and eyeing to shopping/ticketing payments. Two of the Telcos already launched Utility Bill Payment services, three of the Banks and two of the Telcos are already got the approval for the International Inward Remittance Disbursement service. And Much more initiatives are coming on.

Brett King: Currently there are two main m-Commerce initiatives making progress in Hong Kong currently. Octopus is being leveraged toward NFC contactless payments based on it’s already stellar success in Hong Kong – you can expect to see this emerge in the next 12 months with various phone
companies as a hybrid payments solution. Secondly, there are various m-
Commerce initiatives available around the retail space offering coupons,
discounts and direct mobile purchase of goods and services. Application providers and CRM specialists like Cherrypicks are making some great progress with this – including Visa m-coupons and others.

Q: What are the keypoints for discussion at the upcoming MobileCommerce Summit in Manila?

Miguel Paraz: I am coming in as the representative of the Open Mobile
Terminal Platform (OMTP). We are defining a standard for Widgets
called "BONDI" - http://bondi.omtp.org. I will talk about this platform,
its applications, and how it enables for mobile commerce Internet applications.
Zahadul Arafin: The Evolution of Mobile Commerce Services in Bangladesh; Evolution Strategy that the market has adopted and developed; Synergy with Digital Bangladesh Vision and Regulatory Environment; Current Market Updates and upcoming initiatives; Formation of Payment Ecosystem and its innovativeness et cetera

Brett King: The three phases of customer behavioural disruption; Cheques, and Cash gone? Print Media dead…; Big players betting on mobile payments

Q: Who are the people you would like to meet at the Summit?

Miguel Paraz: Software architects and other industry colleagues shaping the future of mobile, the Internet, and commerce.

Zahadul Arafin: Banks, Operators, and Solution providers working on the Mobile
Commerce space.

Brett King: Mobile providers like Smart and Globe who want to leverage off their mobile payments capability with Banks, and application developers from Asia working on both Mobile Payment and Banking Apps.

The 3rd Mobile Commerce Summit ASIA will be happening at The Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila, 24-25 March 2010. NEOEDGE’s Mobile Commerce Summit ASIA is Sponsored by XIUS-bcgi, a premiere industry organization in the Mobile Commerce Space.

NEOEDGE also shares years of experience in Conferences, Workshops and Master Classes. With NEOEDGE’s passion in developing the Telecommunications
Industry, together with its partners, they can create better opportunities for professionals and their business industries.

NEOEDGE’s Mobile Social Networking ASIA for Mobile Operators, Technology Providers and Social Networks in Mobile is scheduled on 19-20 May 2010 in Hong Kong. For more information on Telecom Events, log on to http://www.neo-edge.com/events/ while for Sponsorship Opportunities, call +65 6557 9160 or visit www.mobilesocialnetworkingasia.com