Vitriol wrote:
> 1) First, correct me if I am wrong but it seems to me that there are two ways of paying on iMode:
> For micropayments made on official iMode websites (most of the time to buy digital content), the amount of the transaction is aggregated on the NTT DoCoMo phone bill. NTT takes 9% of the amount, the rest going to the content provider.
About 7-10% goes to DoCoMo, but anyway.
> DoCoMo is apparently planning on extending this billing service to all other sites soon.
Not as far as I know.
>
> The second type of payment, provided by third-parties, is used for other types of payments: goods, non-official iMode sites, etc. and is a wire transfer type of payment that goes as follows:
Not necessarily. There are MANY different unofficial payment schemes, for all different kinds of goods/services, including bank transfer, credit card, etc.
> 1. The user logs into her bank's i-mode service using his username and password, just as if the user were on a web site.
> 2. The user selects the funds transfer option.
> 3. The user must then enter the counter-party's bank and bank account number. In order to avoid having to enter the counter-party's bank's clearing number, the user can select the bank name from a list designed to allow easier navigation. However, the user must enter the counter-party's account number and can enter descriptive text with the transfer.
> 4. Once the payment is entered and a payment date selected, the funds transfer occurs just as all other electronic transfers are conducted. The only difference is that the user initiated the payment from a mobile device. In fact, the recipient has no way of knowing that the payment was initiated via a mobile telephone.
>
That's not quite how a direct bank transfer works, and the process is slightly different depending on the bank/type of transfer.
Suffice to say you login to your bank account, select/enter the receiver and amount, and authorize the transfer. Never heard of/seen being able to select the date of transfer (usually executes between same day ~ several business days).
>
> 2) Now, I would like to know if you have some of the following elements:
> - What are the usage figures for the second type of payment? Is it popular? Is it used to buy anything?
No one has reliable figures, no, sometimes but not often.
>
> - How do sites set this second option up? What changes do they need to bring on their site?
Depends on which 3rd party billing option is used, and as stated above there are many.
>
> - What items or content do this second method typically involve?
All kinds of things.
>
> - I believe most of the transactions on iMode concern digital content. What about other items of higher monetary value and more typical of web-based commerce such as plane tickets, movie tickets, or even goods? How do iMode users pay for that?
Sometimes point-of-sale, with the reservations for the ticket made on the phone, then pay when receiving physical tickets.
> And btw do they actually buy any goods or high ticket type things using iMode?
Not particularly popular just yet.
>
> - Are all the payments/transactions made on official iMode website aggregated on the iMode telephone bill or are some done in another way, involving another payment method (maybe the second I was describing)?
Charges for official sites show up aggregated on the DoCoMo phonebill. All other charges are handled via a separate channel, for example via a credit card company.
>
> - Are credit cards used at all to pay on iMode?
Sometimes. Most popular way to shop online in Japan, believe it or not.
>
> - Are there any other alternative methods of payments aside from the two I mentioned? Who provide them
Many. Archives probably has a list as these have been discussed before.
>
> - Are credit/debit card used at all?
Yes.
>
> - Has NTT DoCoMo announced any plans to change these ways of paying or implement new ones? By for instance offering debit type account to their users?
No, though there is now a pre-paid card that can be used to pay the DoCoMo phonebill, and therefore can be thought of as used to pay for i-mode contents.
>
> - Is NTT DoCoMo planning on deploying a transaction system usable at physical POSs (points of sales) 'a la' MovilPago (www.movilpago.com)?
Haven't heard of such plans concretely/officially.
>
>
> I am also interested in additional stats and figures such as number of payments made by i-Mode users (daily or monthly), number of paying services and prevailing method of payments they use, what does it take to become an official iMode site...
Search of this mailing list's archives should provide a good start, as well as http://mobilemediajapan.com
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morgan stanley dean witter japan
e-business technologies | engineering and strategy
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Received on Thu Mar 15 10:01:01 2001