Mark McSpadden

I was reading Jim Bruene’s Mobile Money and Banking today an I got into his most recent article about SMS Banking. I’m interested in the subject and probably would have just stored it away in my mental file, however, Jim was offering a $5 Starbucks gift card just for posting a “substantive comment.”

Having already been to Starbucks today (and $6 poorer for it) I thought I’d share my thoughts on the impact that cell phone service providers will have on the future of SMS and Mobile web banking.

Not long after I submit my comment, Jim emails me to get my physical address so he can mail me the gift card. This exchange struck both of us as kind of funny. We are talking about checking our bank balances and transferring money on cell phones, yet to get me a Starbucks gift card, Jim was going to have to physically go to a Starbucks¹, buy a $5 gift card, put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it, and send it half way across the country to my place. :)

Jim did point out that we’ve come a long way to get to the Starbucks gift card, but it’s pretty apparent to me that we’ve still got a ways to go.

¹ Starbucks does sell gift cards through their website that you can have delivered to anyone you want, however the smallest increment they offer is $15.