Mobile Payment Systems in Malaysia: Its Potentials and Consumers’ Adoption Strategies

Mobile Payment Systems
Its Potentials and Consumers' Adoption Strategies

Mobile payments are payments made using mobile handsets and other devices, either to directly purchase or to authorize payment for goods and services. Such devices are playing an increasing and evolving role in the wider development of electronic payment systems around Asia Pacific.

The uses of mobile payment system are money transfers person-to-person (C2C) and to businesses (C2B), buying ring tones, concert tickets, taxi and parking payments, credit card/checking transfers, delivery/mobile business payments, music (content), gift cards.

Easy payment translates to larger sales and a greater instance of impulse purchasing. We all know that if you make the purchasing process easy and remove any thought of how much you are spending then the tendency is to spend more. Credit cards have been a boon to impulse spending. This has been a real plus for merchants as it has enabled the public to have a quick, easy, efficient and cashless way to make purchases. The move from cashless to cardless is the next logical step in payment evolution. The rise of the cell phone as a key piece of personal technology will continue to grow; its use as a payment device seems an inescapable and inevitable extension to its utility.

The payment industry and mobile phone manufacturers are looking to use near field communication (NFC) as the base technology. NFC technology is an extension of RFID that combines a smart card interface and reader into a single device. NFC in mobile phones is likely next in line in the evolution for mainstream payment systems. Long term, all phones will have a NFC chip built into the phone.

Maxis Communications Berhad is currently trialling a mobile phone multi-payment service incorporating credit card and prepaid transit payments with Maybank, Visa International and Touch ‘n Go. Maxis "Touch to Pay" employs Near Field Communications (“NFC”) technology which leverages on a short-range wireless connectivity standard embedded in mobile phones.

Maxis also plans to offer a special user interface that offers an array of functionalities which will allow customers payment details, credit balance and recent transactions on the mobile phone screen at any point in time. Upon successful completion of the ‘touch to pay’ trial and commercial roll out next year, Maxis also plans to expand the NFC application in the area of “service discovery”, which will enable mobile phones to read “smart posters” implanted with Radio Frequency Identification (“RFID”) Tag. This will open up a new information channel for customers to gain access to bus routes and timetables, special offers and coupons at selected retail outlets.

Electronic Currency : PayLoadz

PayLoadz gives opportunity for users to sell and buy their products on the internet effectively. The system works in conjunction with PayPal or Google Checkout to provide the users to sell a digital product the platform to do so. It is especially useful to merchants wanting to sell their goods to customers right from their own web site or in online auctions. Any electronic product that can be downloaded can be marketed at PayLoadz. This includes video, audio, eBooks and software. No special programming or server requirements needed - just cut and paste the HTML code that is provided.

The way PayLoadz works is like this. When the buyer click on the product they like on the internet. After that a window will prompt out asking for the user's PayPal or Google Checkout Username and Password. If they do not have an account, they will be given the opportunity to create one or to check out without creating an account using a credit card or bank account as their funding source.After the payment process successfully made, the PayPal or Google Checkout server communicates with the PayLoadz server and provides the transaction details to the system. After that, an email which contains custom “thank you” text that the users specify during the product creation process, and a link for users to download their product. Or they are redirected to the download page, immediately after payment, that provides them instant access to the purchase. After the whole process is done, the users will receive a notification of payment through the mail.

By using PayLoadz, users can enjoy:

• Access to international markets
• the differences between physical trades and trading via internet is, the products can be exhibited to the world at one time. It means that the products can be introduced through the internet whenever the internet users drop by or found the item that the seller is posted and at the same time, there can be a lot of users around the world are viewing the items posted.
  
• Quick and easy implementation
• by using the Electronic Currency, the trades can be easily done. In this case, if using PayLoadz is used. Just need to register the PayLoadz account and PayPal or Google Checkout to guarantee the transactions.
  

Credit Card Debts: Causes and Prevention

Credit Card Debts

Causes and Prevention

What is credit card? A credit card is a system of payment named after the small plastic card issued to users of the system. A credit card allows consumers to purchase products or services without cash and to pay for them at a later date. To qualify for this type of credit, the consumer must open an account with a bank or company, which sponsors a card.

If you have credit cards, but have not yet let your spending get out of hand, then now is the time to take stock of your position and make some decisions about your financial future. Ask yourself what do you want those credit cards for? Do you just want them so that you have a source of payment in emergencies, to shop occasionally online, or when you travel abroad? Or do you plan on going on a shopping spree and spending the rest of the year struggling to clear the balance? Most people do not intend to ever use up their credit limits and max out their credit cards, but it is surprisingly easy to do, and can be very difficult to undo.

Most of the credit card users only pay the interest and the minimum amount of principal when the debt is due, thus never fully repaying the entire sum. This is one of the major factor credit card debts cause.

Some of the credit card users don't know where they spend or spending without plan or budget. This is because they have credit cards with them so they can spend easily without thinking. When they come to pay the credit card debts, they will face difficulty to pay back and feel regret because they spend so much in the begining.

Prevention

Credit card users must manage their finance well. Try to set a budget for the monthly spending on credit card. Credit card users must know the interest rate charge by the credit card company. Don't always pay for the minimum payment only, try to pay all the balance in the credit card statements.

Next, credit card users have to pay the balance on time every month to avoid the credit card company charge high interest on the balance. Credit card users also must use the credit card like cash, not like a credit card. Always use credit card according to the budget that have set every month.

All of this will help credit card users to prevent from the credit card debts increase and get charge high interest on the balance.

Phishing: Examples and Its Prevention Methods

Phishing

Examples and Its Prevention Methods

Phishing is a scam in which the attacker sends an email purporting to be from a valid financial or eCommerce provider. Identity thieves and other criminals often use "phishing" scams, one of the fastest growing internet crimes, to steal personal information from a vast number of people. Phishing attacks use 'spoofed' e-mails and fraudulent websites designed to fool recipients into divulging personal financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames and passwords, social security numbers.

The following are examples of what a phishing scam e-mail message might look like:

How to Prevent ?
There are some ways to help us to prevent phishing scam. Firstly, never click on the links in email messages. It can be extremely difficult to identify which are legitimate and which are spoofed. Go directly to the website of your financial institution and log in as usual. If there is a need to update some information, you will be informed when you log in.

Secondly, review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to check for unauthorized charges. If our credit cards are being used by other people, we will see the amount in the bank statement.

Thirdly, we should always be skeptical. Most legitimate companies do not send requests to update our information. Those that make these requests are finding that most people are suspicious and ignore the request.

Fourthly, use anti-virus software and a firewall, and keep them up to date. Besides that, don’t email personal or financial information. This is because; other people can hack our email and take information from there.

Finally, in order to avoid this e-mail to ever land in your inbox you need to use a phishing filter. One of the most common ones at the moment is the Bayesian Filter that allows you to blacklist or white list certain individuals. It also easily integrates to popular email clients such as MS outlook.

How to Safeguard Our Personal and Financial Data?

How to Safeguard Our Personal and Financial Data?

Nowadays, there are many ways that other people can obtain our personal information and financial data. For example, some syndicates steal wallets that contain our identification and steal our mail, including our bank and credit card statements. From that, they can know our personal and financial data. Then they will create a new credit card or identification card by using our data.

There are several ways that we can safeguard our personal and financial data. Firstly, we should memorize our passwords. Don’t record our password on papers and carry it in the wallets. We also should not use our date of birth as our password. This is because other people can know our password for our atm card if we use our date of birth as password.

Secondly, we should never give our personal or financial information over the phone or Internet unless we initiated the contact. We also should not download files that were sent to us by strangers or click on hyperlinks from people whom we don’t know. It is dangerous to do that because other people have the chance to hack into our computer after we download some files. Besides that, we should use a firewall program on our computer, especially if we leave our computers connected to the Internet 24 hours a day.

Thirdly, we should report lost or stolen credit cards immediately. This step is to prevent our cards being used by other people. Besides that, we should always check our monthly credit card and bank statements for unusual activity. Once we find out something unusual then we need report to the bank.

Finally, we need to protect our personal information. We only share credit card or other personal information when we are buying from a company that we know and trust. We need to know who we are dealing with. We should not do business with any company that won’t provide its name, street address and telephone number.

The application of 3rd party certification programme in Malaysia.

VeriSign is one of the world’s leading providers of managed strong authentication services. These services enable enterprises to authenticate users, authorize their online activities and provide trust to conduct secure Web-based and other digital transactions. To fulfill different needs of enterprises, customers and business partners, VeriSign Managed Strong Authentication Services comes out with multiple choices of authentication, such as:

• One Time Password (OTP)
• Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
• Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Technology-Based Authentication

or

Normally, VeriSign logo or signature can be easily seen in a log in page especially when the user login and password is needed to deal with sensitive matters. VeriSign uses digital certificates can also add value when Tivoli Access Manager encrypts customer information and transactional data and by enabling digital signatures to further secure monetary exchanges. Because the combined solution provides a multitiered program of transaction security—from authentication to access and encryption to digital signatures—end users are more likely to do business via online.


In Malaysia, E-Commerce has become more common these days in the business industries. Data confidentiality and integrity are one of the main concerns for an organization to give assurance and confidence to the end users. To ensure data confidentiality and integrity, all information transmitted over the Internet is encrypted using the 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol from VeriSign Certificate Authority. SSL is a secure way of transferring information between two computers on the Internet using encryption. Strong end to end encryption is also adopted within the bank's computer networks and resources.


The appliance of VeriSign has become broader, the growth of websites which applies this internet security service also become larger. The service is familiar to the end user whenever comes to money matters, they will enquire for the certificate for the assurance. Locally, maybank2u.com and www2.pbebank.com are among the bank websites that apply the service because of its e-banking which deals millions of transactions daily.

Below is the image of VeriSign's certification for Public Bank:

{click on the image for a better view}

The Threat of Online Security: How Safe is our Data?

As Internet users display more of their personal information on social networking Web sites, and office workers upload more sensitive data to online software programs, computer hackers are employing increasingly sophisticated methods to pry that information loose. In many cases, they're devising small attacks that can fly under the radar of traditional security software, while exploiting the trust users place in popular business and consumer Web sites.

Some people or companies with malicious intentions write programs like computer viruses, worms, trojan horses and spyware. These programs are all characterised as being unwanted software that install themselves on your computer through deception. Trojan horses are simply programs that conceal their true purpose or include a hidden functionality that a user would not want. Worms are characterised by having the ability to replicate themselves and viruses are similar except that they achieve this by adding their code onto third party software. Once a virus or worm has infected a computer, it would typically infect other programs (in the case of viruses) and other computers.

Spyware is software that runs on a computer without the explicit permission of its user. It often gathers private information from a users computer and sends this data over the Internet back to the software manufacturer. Adware is software that runs on a computer without the owner's consent, much like spyware. However, instead of taking information, it typically runs in the background and displays random or targeted pop-up advertisements. In many cases, this slows the computer down and may also cause software conflicts.

The Online Danger

Many simply just do NOT understand the risks online. Over the last 24 months tens of thousands of computers around the world have been compromised and turned into a "zombie" computer that can be controlled by a remote user - and the PC owner does NOT even suspect a thing!

When a "remote user" (a criminal) wishes to launch an attack on a website, spread a new piece of spyware that steals personal data, send out spam e-mail and etc. They will use thousands of these "zombie" PC's as a group of computers, sometimes referred to as a "botnet", to achieve their task.

Things have got so organised now that high tech criminal gangs will approach the "owner" of these botnet's and pay them a fee to "rent" their services for a particular task. The biggest botnets can have tens of thousands of hijacked computers in them. Research suggests they can be hired from as little as 4 cents per machine!

The Solution?

I can not emphasise enough the importance of securing your computer! Would you leave your house and not secure it? No of course not yet the only reason these criminals can grab hold of your data in most cases is poor security on your part.

Always use Internet Explorer 7 or FireFox 2.0. Use anti-spyware like SpySweeper or Spyware Doctor (AVOID the free software as the stakes are now to high to rely on them, except Microsoft Windows Defender as they DO have the resources behind this product.)Use AntiVirus programs like McAffee AntiVirus. On at least a weekly basis update anti-virus and spyware products. Switch on the Windows firewall. Make sure updates to your operating system are installed. Make sure you are running XP Service Pack 2. Consider an all-in-one package like OneCare or McAfee Internet Security Suite. Take time to educate yourself and family about the risks. Always use passwords that contain numbers & letters and make them at least 8 to 12 characters long. Do NOT use familiar words such as a name in the password as these can easily be cracked. Monitor your computer and stay alert to threats. Remember the days of installing free software to protect you are long gone.

An Example of an E-Commerce Failure and its Causes

http://www.furnituresite.com/

Furnituresite.com was launched in 1998 by Steve Rothschild. A year after the site was launched; the company replaced Rothschild with Andrew Brooks as CEO and soon after changed its name to Furniture.com. The company had lost $46.5 million in the year it filled the IPO. Although Furniture.com had many customers, it still struggled to make a decent profit. It became apparent that the company was in trouble when it lay off 30 of its 230 employees in April 2000.

There were some reasons that caused furniture.com to failure in the market. Firstly, furniture needs high shipping cost because furniture is usually large and heavy. Since Furniture.com was an online store, shipping was very important because it was part of every sale. Most of the items Furniture.com sold were too heavy “to send by the U.S. postal service, Federal Express, or United Postal Service,” so it were forced to use more expensive specialty delivery services. There were some stories of shipping costing more than the purchase price, which is very bad for business. Furniture.com was not able to find a remedy to the high shipping costs and suffered greatly because of it.

Secondly, Furniture.com also struggled with its information systems. It struggled to “track, ship, and charge” properly on the goods it sold. Many shipments were shipped without charging the proper price for them, to the wrong place, or not sent at all. It was most common for shipments to be delivered late; this was a big problem for customers with deadlines, such as holidays and other special occasions. In the last few months of the company’s existence, the Better Business Bureau received over 70 complaints about Furniture.com, mostly over shipping errors.

Finally, the product, furniture, was not the ideal type of product for the Internet. Many consumers just weren’t ready to buy furniture over the Web. Furniture is a fairly expensive purchase, and most customers want to make sure they make the right decision. Consumers, put a big emphasis on the comfort of furniture. A major downside to shopping on Furniture.com was that the consumer lacked the ability to touch and feel cushions and fabrics first hand. People were not comfortable choosing furniture solely based on pictures, and those who did were forced to gamble on what the actual product would be like.

An Example of an E-Commerce Success and its Causes

http://www.dell.com/

Dell.com was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell, who is the longest-tenured executive to lead a company in the computer systems industry (Dell.com). One thing that separates Dell.com from other computer businesses is that it only offers its products online. The utilization of e-commerce is what has made Dell.com so successful. The company is based on a simple concept: selling computer systems directly to customers. This concept allows the people at Dell.com to understand the needs of its customers and build a computer that is most effective for its customers in the most efficient way possible. Its customers do not have to choose the one particular computer setup that is sold in a store; instead they are able to buy a computer that is best suited for them.

Dell.com sells more computer systems throughout the world than any other computer company. Over the last four quarters, Dell.com has totaled “$57.9 billion in revenues". Dell.com also introduces the latest relevant technology much more quickly than companies with slow-moving, indirect distribution channels, turning over inventory in just five days on average”. For over twenty years, Dell.com has experienced great success inB2C e-commerce.

Dell.com has been a dominate force in computers for over twenty years. It is one of the oldest surviving B2C e-commerce companies. The company’s success is due in large part to the way that it reinvented the computer making process. Its automated e-commerce network has streamlined the production of computers. Dell.com’s system revolutionized computer production in much the same way that Ford’s system revolutionized automobile production. The company’s radio powered ID chips have made the company successful by simplifying everyday processes.

Discuss how E-Commerce can reduce cycle time, improve employees’ empowerment and facilitate customer support.

Why E-Commerce?

Reduce Cycle TimeE-Commerce shortens the time taken for a business to complete. E-Commerce can reduce the cycle time by eliminating steps in the business process. Middlemen or the intermediaries are eliminated and producers are able to approach customers directly. Online stores operates 24 hours By reducing the cycle time, the company can decrease the cost incurred, increase revenue and gain competitive advantages over the others.

Improve Employees’ EmpowermentE-Commerce allows the decentralization of decision making and authority via collaborative commerce. E-Commerce offer desktop enhancement for data access and retrieval, superior reference tools and better decision support for the management. With central database, employees from different geographical location are able to access to the link required to carry out the business and perform business transaction instantly. It granted power to the employees in dealing with the process of capturing, researching and leveraging business information. Empowered employees will definitely make customer satisfied and eventually increase operation efficiency.

Facilitate Customer Support E-Commerce facilitates customer support by providing a wide range of technological solutions and communication opportunity. Maintaining electronic bulletin will enable customers to report fault immediately. E-Commerce creates an easier way for customer to purchases goods and services in a more interactive way. On line site are more attractive compared to the traditional store. Customers have direct access to product information, new product updates, and promotions by visiting online stores.

Jordan Kuah First Blog

My name is Kuah Chia Nien, can call me Jordan as well. I am 21 years old and now staying at Bandar Damai Perdana, Cheras. I am studying at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Bandar Sungai Long, which the course I am taking is Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) Entrepreneurship in year 3 semester 1. I was born on the land below the wind where the place is Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

I can’t live without music, especially the pop songs. Everyday at least few hours I have on my music player or even driving also can’t be silent in my car. Lately I have listened English songs more than Chinese songs. Almost outdated with what the famous Chinese songs are playing at the radio. Besides, soccer is also one of the hobbies in my life. I will date with few of my soccer team players or some of my buddies that always play together at indoor futsal once a week. Swimming can maintain our body fit so I will swim at least once per week at my friend’s condo.

The top 5 web sites I always visit are:

http://www.friendster.com/

http://www.hotmail.com/

http://www.soccernet.com/

http://www.livescore.com/

http://www.youtube.com/

I always visit http://www.friendster.com/ for meeting my net's friends and also my university's friends. I also make friend with a lot of foreigners' friends. Friendster also can help me to keep in touch with my old friends and also help me to contact back my friends that long time didn't meet which studied together in primary and secondary schools. Other than that, I always use http://www.hotmail.com/ to access e-mail inbox. Hotmail is a web site which provides e-mail service to internet users. I start using it since I was 12 years old. It is very user friendly. Other that, I always check for soccer news from http://www.soccernet.com/. I can get the latest news about my favourite clubs from that web site. This web site is useful because the news is up-to-date and can't get it from local news paper. I'm also always check for football latest results from http://www.livescore.com/ because it provides the on the spot results and complete details for the particular matches. This web site consist almost whole world of football's results. Lastly, one of the top web site I always visit are http://www.youtube.com/. This web site has a lot of videos are very interesting and useful.

That's little about myself. This is my first time I post blog. I hope all of you enjoy read it.

Tio Yee Lin I Am

My name is Tio Yee Lin. I am currently pursuing BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (HONS) ENTREPRENEURSHIP in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman located in Bandar Sungai Long, Kajang.

I usually log on www.google.com and www.yahoo.com . Both serve as competent search engine and enable the users to search for information, providing free e-mails services and etc. I usually read and send e-mails via these two sites. I can access to various information from the web sites from all around the world with just a click on the mouse. These two are the necessary websites that I would visit for school work as well as finding extra information.

Other than that, wikipedia.org is another pathway to obtain information from various fields. It is an “E-Encyclopedia” contributed and written by volunteers from all over the world. It shows many relevant pictures and diagrams that made me understand better.

www.thestar.com.my is a local newspaper provider. It enables to read instant and latest news. The most importantly, by reading newspaper online, we can reduce the usage of paper and it is environmental friendly!

dictionary.cambridge.org. The online dictionary is convenient, easy to access and the best of all, it is free of charge. It helps a lot when I come a cross words that I do not understand .The content of the dictionary is complete and the explanation is comprehensive .There are barely any words that could not be found here.

The site I visited the most is www.friendster.com. It is a site that enables the user to discover new friends via Internet social network and maintain profiles, music, photos and etc. I am able to communicate and keep in touch with friends which are located at different place.

My TOP FIVE INTERNET ACTIVITIES are reading e-newspapers, sending and receiving e-mails, browse and search for information, chat instantly with friends and family members.

I am Ng Yeik Feiy

My name is Ng Yeik Feiy. Now I am taking BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (HONS) ENTREPRENEURSHIP in University Tunku Abdul Rahman. I am 23 years old and my hometown is Ipoh, Perak.

My hobbies are playing badminton and reading. Me and my friends play badminton once a week. We book a badminton court in Balakong every Thursday. We can relax ourselves when playing badminton. This can help us to pay more attention in the lecture and tutorial classes. Besides that, I also read books during my free time. I like horror and thriller novels.

The five websites that I visited the most are www.yahoo.com, www.google.com, www.sinchew.com.my, www.nanyang.com.my and www.tribalwars.net . I use Yahoo and Google websites to search information. Sometimes, I need to use the search engine to search some information for my assignments. On the other hands, I read the latest news from Sinchew and Nanyang websites. These two websites provide me the latest news in Malaysia and the other countries. The last website is for me to play online game. It is a strategy game and is good for teenagers.