M-Pesa - Africa's mobile phone payment system that avoids banks.

Load of Bullion

Load of Bullion

Well-Known Member
M-Pesa was first released in 2007, 2 years prior to Bitcoin in 2009. Whilst it is not a cryptocurrency, it has many similarities.
It avoids bankers fees. It is "digital cash". It is used Peer to Peer over phones. Unlike Bitcoin, M-Pesa is centralised.
The mobile phone company Safaricom gets loyalty to it's brand via customers using the M-Pesa utility.

M-Pesa (M for mobile, pesa is Swahili for money) is a mobile-phone based money transfer and microfinancing service for Safaricom and Vodacom,
the largest mobile network operators in Kenya and Tanzania. Currently the most developed mobile payment system in the world, M-Pesa allows
users with a national ID card or passport to deposit, withdraw, and transfer money easily with a mobile device.

M-Pesa explained.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0dBWaen3aQ[/youtube]

M-Pesa ad showing Africans not having to deal with banks.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1IqjY88YuM[/youtube]

14_m-pesa-cell-phone.jpg


14_lipa-na-m-pesa2.jpg


14_mpesa-infographic.jpg
 
One thing I've been interested lately is technology for developing countries, raspberry pi, budget tablets and cheap smart phones. Mozilla are doing this $25 smart phone that will run on HTML5, I would be pretty keen to play with one

Any videos of everyday people using it that aren't promo videos?
 
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p0H8AQsgxI[/youtube]

This video breaks down the mechanics of it a bit better.


These phones aren't too expensive to buy new, as well as there being a large market for unwanted used phones that are recycled through developed countries and sent to Africa. There is a flood of cheap smartphones at the moment coming from china, which you can get at roughly the $80 (basic enough features to get by in the developed world) but the cost and battery life is still prohibitive I think.
 
I'd like to see something like a galaxy S2 form factor, 1ghz dual core, 1GB ram, 5mp camera and front camera with a cut down version of andriod with a battery life of iight use for two days. A cost around $25 might make it accessible with a monthly wage of ~ $150USD
 
Interesting times. Cryptocurrencies may well become part of the online phone payments systems in Africa.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mafU305mVXY[/youtube]
 
I've been keeping track of Kipochi, If you haven't heard of it you will find it pretty interesting
https://kipochi.com/


3261fdf8a2c511e391e212b3df39af67_8.jpg

Source: http://instagram.com/p/lFBfVrypJ4/#

First #Bitcoin transaction sent from Spain to Kenya using @kipochipay http://w.kipochi.com on #firefoxos
Click to expand...


361a86f8b0db11e3838512aaa8e0901e_8.jpg

Source: http://instagram.com/p/lzLgldypOw/#

A $40 no name Chinese android phone bought in an alley in Nairobi running the Kipochi wallet http://Kipochi.com #bitcoin
Click to expand...

Ultimately I'd like to see both the current SMS based system with legacy phones and 3G/blockchain/cheap smartphone
 
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