BebaPay to revolutionize Kenya’s public transport sector:
There will be a revolution in public transport in Kenya, if a new payment system takes effect countrywide. The system launched by Equity Bank in collaboration with technology giant, Google will use a card as storage of value, and which will be swiped onboard suitably equipped vehicles. NTV’s Aby Agina now tells us what the technology, known as near field communications, means for the future of payments in Kenya.

Watch it here

Is it the same matatu that won't accept mpesa now. the same ones who won't embrace technology such as ......new tires?

from the bank that brought us m something to do with saving 50 bob?

from commuters who have yet to know that a debit card from equity isn't a purse accessory?

from a company called google that is using Kenyans like guinea pigs in a system that has no traction? By the way, anything google is not my friend, including their search. remember the useless KBO?

mhhh. I'll wait.

How will they pay bribes without cash? And will this mean full accountability and easier to loop into taxes?

WONT HAPPEN!

Very interesting how google is targeting Kenya.Now this card.Google the search engine and equity a bank,what are they doing in transport and what value are they adding?The card has been around for some time and I think adding equity was for the brand recognition but its still a bank.

Apart from adding another card in your wallet,I'm wondering who their 'early adopters' are.DoubleM in the mix would work wonders.I love that they've brought NFC to the spotlight but I think its still too early.

Corporations are bringing in too many technological changes and not perfecting their implementation plus overwhelming the consumer with all these changes.

no no no no mr.extraordinary that's where you go wrong.
even we bodaboda/donkey riders need this technology.
Yaaaaani tuseme, am the only bodaboda rider on wazua?
lawd have mercy!!

this cant work unless on proper Sacco run fleet like Double M and even then there would be a lot to do. But with all things Kenya we can wake up kesho and find out lazima uwe na bebacard.

Now for Google, these guys are super-smart, dont take the KBO thing for granted. Imagine the amount of data they will have collected about the business and from the bank. I think their strategy in Africa is to learn and not impose until they can create models around our behaviour. Remember when you cannot see the product, then know you are the product.

NFC has been on my mind since 2010 and number 2 would have been great then.The first thing that introduced me to it was a key chain that you could add someone to your social circle by just waving.

NFC won't have such a big problem being introduced to the market because people understand bluetooth and to some extent it will be marketed on those lines.Number 1 isn't the way to go IMO.



Anyone remember this video?I suggest you watch it because it lead me to the potential of mpesa and NFC.Now the concept is you go to a restaurant,the menu is a tablet or a space on the table for the NFC tag.You order,pay and get your receipt through the tag or tablet just like @Museveni has pointed out.

Now my point is,Kenyans(and Africans) react to status symbols and if NFC is marketed on those lines both new smartphones and NFC will be adopted fast but not in card form.Status is a big part of our culture and if NFC is associated with 'sophistication' and 'class' I see no problems.

Market saturation in this case means having many NFC-chip enabled 'consumer items' and not only phones, just as @symbols you've said e.g key holders, embedding chips on current phones [take for example a chip fixed on a Nokia 3310] and not just focusing on the Beba cards.

Getting the masses to trust these 'items' as their new wallets poses a big challenge IMHO.

Once that is done, the next phase would be to get the service integrated with other services like Mobile money services as discussed in another thread.