MOBILE transactions are set to become increasingly ubiquitous, and Asia will be at the forefront of this trend, according to Gino Picasso, chief executive of US-based mobile platform solutions provider Mobile 365 Inc.

'Up to now, most of our business has been personalisation,' he said, referring to Mobile 365's solutions which help telcos and content providers sell mobile ringtone and wallpaper downloads to consumers.

'However, what we're seeing more and more is that large enterprises such as banks, airlines, and financial institutions are using text messaging to reach their customers, with either information or transactions,' he said. 'And Asia is, by far, the leader in the adoption of these new services.'

Mr Picasso also believes that this trend towards mobile transactions will be a major driver for Mobile 365's growth.

'While downloads of ringtones and wallpapers do have an appeal, it's not mainstream - it doesn't affect business. But when you start doing daily transactions (on your mobile), it becomes ubiquitous.'

Mr Picasso: We're seeing more large enterprises using text messaging to reach customers'. Photo/ GINO PICASSO

Mobile 365's regional headquarters in Singapore is leading its efforts in this enterprise messaging solution space. 'We serve many of our global accounts from here, as they tend to roll out these new services in the region first,' said Mr Picasso.

Matthew Talbot, managing director of Mobile 365's operations in Asia, added that Singapore will also start to see more e-commerce-related services such as banking, rolled out in the coming months.

Asia is currently Mobile 365's 'fastest-growing region', accounting for just under a third of the company's revenues which are expected to grow some 30 per cent this year.

'We'll exceed US$100 million in revenues this year,' predicted Mr Picasso.

'We also do a lot of development work here in Singapore,' he said.

Globally, the company has some 350 people - 138 are based in Asia, of which about 100 are based in Singapore.

Another global trend, Mr Picasso noted, was that of targeted advertising.

'Advertising is becoming very directed and very targeted,' he said, and the mobile platform is capable of doing just that via text and multimedia messaging service (MMS) ads.

Mobile 365 also provides solutions that enable messaging between telcos. 'As technology becomes more complex, it's more difficult to specify standards,' noted Mr Picasso. 'This favours businesses like us, who try to simplify the technical complexity.'

However, he acknowledged that it certainly is not a bed of roses trying to solve these issues, as new technologies herald new billing systems, an increasing range of handsets, all which add to 'the increasing complexity'.

Is this article useful to you?