Nokia has announced that it has started to embed the Mobile Money client in all Nokia devices in India, going forward. The Mobile Money service provides the unbanked and under-banked masses, access to financial services through their mobile phones. As part of Nokia's vision of enabling a broad community with financial services, the Money client is available not only on high-end Symbian smartphone devices, but also on Nokia's Series 40 feature phones, as well as the Series 30 entry-level devices and support both keyboard, touch and combined devices.
The Nokia Money mobile financial services initiative is already being implemented in India through partnerships with Union Bank of India (UBI), Yes Bank, Obopay and a wide range of merchants, retailers and business correspondents. The services, called Union Bank Money and Mobile Money Services by Yes Bank, are already available in several regions and are being rolled out across India in the forthcoming quarters.
Gary Singh, GM, Nokia Mobile Payment Services, said, "At Nokia, it has been our constant endeavour to democratize experiences, products and platforms for consumers. Mobile Money services eliminate dependence on the physical presence of a branch or availability of internet banking services. Embedding the Money client in the Nokia devices going forward further makes the service ubiquitous and accessible for consumers across categories."
"We believe our partnerships with Yes Bank and Union Bank of India will help us connect the unbanked population in the country by leveraging the wide reach of our combined networks and the deep penetration of mobile services in the country," he further added.
To make the service simpler, the user-interface is de-coupled and separated from data transport. Therefore, the user does not need to know which transport (SMS, GPRS or Wi-Fi) is in use during the transaction. Mobile Money Service allows users to avail multiple financial services functions such as: Account management with detailed balance information, tracking of each transaction, details of each transaction done, Bill payment, Money transfer and Cash withdrawal from Business Correspondents.
