My BusinessWeek colleague, Amy Feldman, wrote in this week’s issue about a service that will soon be available in the U.S.: emailing money to friends and family.
In Japan, the service has been around since mid-2008. The first was launched by KDDI, the telco that runs au and Japan’s second-biggest mobile operator. Its Jibun Ginko (My Bank) service, which started in July 2008, requires that mobile phone subscribers open an account and deposit money, as they would at an ordinary bank.
How common is it to email money from phones? KDDI says 750,000 people have opened accounts so far. But only about 10% are regular users, so it’s mostly early adopters who are taking advantage of the service.
Actually, no money is sent from phone to phone. The email message is just a proxy for the transaction, which takes place between banks over a secure network.
The money transfer service is free when it’s between Jibun Ginko account holders. There’s also no charge if money is sent to a Mitsubishi UFJ Bank account. For all others, it’s 170 yen ($1.90) if the amount is less than 30,000 yen ($330)–about what you would pay for pulling out cash from a convenience store ATM in Japan–or 270 yen ($3) if the amount is 30,000 yen or more.
How much can you send using your cell phone? 10 million yen, or about $110,000. That’s because KDDI’s Jibun Ginko operates as a bank, so the usual money transfer limits apply.
Popularity: -0% [?]
