Another Mobile Wallet news: Western Union Mobile to hit global

“…

The Western Union Co., together with its Vigo and Orlandi Valuta-branded money transfer services, provides consumers with ways to send and receive money worldwide, as well as send payments and buy money orders.

Western Union entered the mobile finance space in the second quarter of 2008, with an endorsement for a global pilot program by the GSM Association, a global trade association representing more than 750 mobile carriers worldwide.

The Western Union Digital Vendor Program is open to mobile finance platform vendors who have successfully deployed a mobile money offering.

Certified vendors agree to maintain current version control against the Western Union money transfer service interface…

…Successful mobile money service offerings are typically deployed on a single-country basis and include three service providers working together in a single mobile finance ecosystem, according to Western Union.

Participants in this ecosystem include carriers, financial institutions and mobile platform providers.

Western Union connects into this ecosystem by providing money-transfer capabilities.

The company is certifying mobile platform vendors to reduce integration costs and accelerate go-to-market activities for banks and carriers by creating standard technical deployments.

Once a bank or carrier contracts with Western Union to activate its mobile money transfer service, its consumers will be able to send and/or receive money through Western Union’s global money transfer system, connected to more than 334,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories…”

The article is picked from & continues @ http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/banking-payments/3564.html

(note: mobile wallet, mobile commerce, mobile banking… an important space to watch… jr)

Best Australian iPhone 3GS Deals

“…Best deal on a 24-month contract: Vodafone’s $69 deal for the 16GB model offers 1GB of data and $400 of calls. On launch day, Optus announced a $10 rebate on its $79 plan which means it offers more calls and texts — but the fact you’ll still have to pay the tethering charge makes it a pricier deal unless you really just want the iPhone to be a phone.

Best deal on a 12-month contract: Optus was originally the only provider offering a 12-month contract, but Vodafone has also added that option, albeit with high handset charges. hard to pick here, though again tethering would be an issue for Optus users.

Best deal for an outright buy: If you can get to an Apple store, then its apparent prices of $879 for the 16GB model or $1040 for the 32GB will be hard to beat.

Best telco for tethering: Vodafone is the best option if tethering is a feature you want to use regularly as (opposed to occasionally) — Optus’ tethering charge puts it out of contention and Telstra’s data allowance is way too stingy…”

Picked from: http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2009/06/best-australian-iphone-3gs-deals/