Mobile Wallet - Advantages and Disadvantages

Mobile Wallet - Advantages and Disadvantages

Mobile Wallet - Advantages and Disadvantages

Time is Money.’ This is what Benjamin Franklin had said thus connecting these two quantities. And these are exactly the two quantities which the Mobile Wallet seeks to bring together i.e. save time while spending and managing money. A mobile wallet in simple terms is a system of making payments. It is just a method of paying. The difference between online payment services (like we encounter during online shopping) and mobile wallet is that you can use this wallet to make payments in a physical store too! It’s just like you swiping your card in a store or giving cash to pay, but will be much easier than card or cash. So now there would be no worries of forgetting your ‘wallet’! With everything new, there is excitement as well as skepticism and hesitancy.

Advantages

1. Ease of use – It’s like a one click pay with no need to fill in card numbers and passwords every time. One can link their credit cards, debit cards and bank accounts and pay immediately with no hassle to enter the details each time.

2. Ease of access – There will be no need of physical wallet like we do in the case of cash or cards. Also mobile wallets are upgrading to allow you to store your documents digitally like your Driving License, Aadhar Card, Pan Card, etc.

3. There will no issue of asking or searching for change which we have while handling cash.

4. It will be possible to make instant payments. Just like we can exchange cash at any moment, we can exchange and transfer money anytime.

5. There would synchronization of data from multiple platforms. Bank accounts, credit and debit cards, mobile accounts and bills - all will be interconnected and help in better management. It’s like everything is under one roof.

6. It is extremely useful for humongous unorganized sector where cash is considered as the most suitable medium. Exchange of money through mobile wallet at chaat stalls, street vendors, small shops, etc. would remove the need to carry cash/cards at such places.

Disadvantages

1. Mobile network connectivity is the biggest impediment. Network problems and reliable and fast internet connectivity is not available in most of the developing countries.

2. More than connectivity, security issues are at the forefront nowadays. People are always under the fear of misuse of their money by hackers and frauds. They always feel safer to have cash. Again there are also issues of identity theft that need to be addressed. Issue of pick-pocketing will be replaced by these concerns.

3. Enough support infrastructure is not available. In countries like India there is not enough financial inclusion and financial literacy. Unless that builds up, there is no use in bringing in more and more advanced technologies.

4. It also does not cater to needs of the entire population. It’s an app on a smart phone. Most of them are using simple cell phones. Plastic money and m-commerce has not yet caught up completely throughout the entire nation. This is a Smartphone app. People can be skeptical enough to mention battery backup of smart phone as a reason to stay away from this.

5. India does not have a solid dispute resolution processes. Experiences of people with the customer service agents too are not encouraging.

6. There are many wallet operators and there is still no clear idea as to whether payments to other wallet operators would be possible or not. For e.g. Airtel Money should be able to pay to SBI Buddy.

7. Replacing day-to-day transactions with money is easier said than done. For e.g. in a crowded bus, buying a ticket by paying a conductor through mobile wallet does not seem a viable option. It might be possible but it’s a challenging task.

In India even Rs. 5 to Rs.10 transactions take place. Such small transactions are huge in number and need to be handled carefully with no mix-ups. The companies cannot ignore these transactions as they form bulk of spending in India. It is a challenging task to make mobile wallet an integral part of the life especially Indian life. However there is hope as similar reservations were seen in case of plastic money too.

There is going to be a change and we must adapt to it and accept it. Albert Einstein said, "The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking." Since mobile wallets are going to be the next thing just like the plastic money were a decade back, it’s important that we allay our fears, change our mindset and start adapting to such technological innovations, so as to improve our efficiency when it comes payments and money management. It’s just as Elizabeth Warren says that ' Balancing your money is the key to having enough.'
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    Discussion

  • RE: Mobile Wallet - Advantages and Disadvantages -Jaya Priyadarshini (12/08/16)
  • It has lots of advantages in my point of view. It helps us to go cashless anywhere. In parallel, disadvantages also of going cashless every shop doesn't have a facility of card swiping or any type of online payment.

    One of bigger problem what we face each and everyday in our life, that if someone is paying via card swiping, then we are not being able to pay a two digit bill. Like as an example, if we take a packet of chips, then it costs only 20 or 30 in Rupees, then how one will be able to pay via card. Because paying two digit number is loss of money. It takes some percentage of money. So overall can say that the whole system should be changed first.

    Whatever facilities are being provided these day of paying online like mobile wallet etc. is good.

    These days all the packs of the internet and everything comes too costly. So for the time being one can say that he/she won't be able to pay online. But yeah sure one day it will come that for all, it will be possible to go cashless so easily.
  • RE: Mobile Wallet - Advantages and Disadvantages -gopal agrawal (08/31/15)
  • Through the payment with the mobile wallet sometimes the wallet money is particular for a just one e commerce site e.g. paytm wallet money cannot be used to buy any commodities on other e commerce site. If there is a collabration between all the e commerce then the wallet will be usefful in india where the pocket pick up cases are much ...the payment is made safely and no need to care of the wallet and remain tense of the wallet pick up in crowded place
  • RE: Mobile Wallet - Advantages and Disadvantages -Deepa Kaushik (08/31/15)
  • Mobile wallet more precisley should be called an advanced technology representing the spending culture of the masses. The introduction of such an advanced technology is representive of the fast developinh nation in terms of technology. It is the advanced and sophisticated lifestyle calling for a rich economic life of its citizens.

    Mobile wallet definitely helps in secure way of carrying money. The shopping and transaction with heavy amounts become very difficult with hard cash or card in the wallet in busy market areas. However, this concern gets sorted very easily with the mobile wallet. The access to the accounts also gets simpler through these apps.

    Still, these mobile wallets are not much relevant in developing countries like India, where people are not only backward in their technological growth, but also stick to their age old thinking and lifestyle. Such developments carry importance in areas where people are more adaptive to the upcoming changes and the masses have acceptance to the advancements occuring in the environment. We need to make people accept the smartphones first and then thinkof using any such apps. We should not forget that we are living in an era where we do have our co-brotherens who are unaware of using the simplest mobile device.

    The other aspect of the disadvantage being the high risk of threats through fradulent play. The cyber crimes and fraud play happen every now and then in present era. With our wide population operating such mobile wallets, it would be an open invitation for such evil minds to get hold of the account details and drain our economy instead of giving a growing spark. Hence, we need to wait for few more decades for our country to raise itself to the standard of using mobile wallets without any fear of getting cheated.
  • RE: Mobile Wallet - Advantages and Disadvantages -yogesh (08/31/15)
  • One of the biggest advantages offered by smartphones is the mobile wallet . The transfer of funds with a mobile wallet is a simple and secure way to deposit or to receive money via a virtual wallet accessed by consumers using their mobile phones/smartphones. A few benefits of the mobile wallet:
    The charges of the mobile wallet fund transfer are less when compared to charges in a traditional fund transfer
    Mobile wallets encourage the convergence of mobile network service providers and financial institutions
    Mobile wallets motivate service providers/operators in bringing in more innovative modules in the mobile financial market.
    PAYMENT TOOL
    A mobile wallet is an extremely valuable payment tool and offers benefits, such as:
    Updating a consumer account and indicating how much reward points he or she gained at the end of purchase
    Avoiding the merchant’s and consumer’s purchase complexity by adding or redeeming loyalty points at point of sale (POS) instead of cash or credit
    Providing consumers with purchase data and retail offers based on previous purchase data
    Issuing a warning message to consumers for fund deficits and overdraws
    Allowing a consumer possessing one or more debit/credit bank cards to choose the particular bank card, which provides maximum value in terms of rewards or a favorable rate of interest or redeemable coupons
    Enabling automatic unlock of a prepaid debit card for payments made at a particular location or store or for a specified retail category
    Recommending available accessories in the same store or the nearest retail store based on the location and item purchased
    Allowing banks to limit or raise the credit limit by conducting straight-through processing (STP). If a bank lacks STP or delays the crediting process, the consumer can choose a different banking partner that offers a simpler and faster STP.