Reloadable prepaid provider Green Dot plans to get into the mobile wallet business, following in the footsteps of Google and PayPal.
According to a report by the Las Vegas Business Press, Green Dot announced plans to leverage its recent acquisition of Loopt Inc. for $43.4 million as a springboard for a mobile wallet. Loopt holds the patent for geolocation mobile messaging, which is the technology that enables a smart phone to act as a credit card.
"This is the process for sending a commercial message to a mobile device based on the location of that mobile device," Green Dot CEO Steve Streit said in a conference call with analysts.
Streit expressed great optimism for Green Dot's prospects in the mobile wallet marketplace, according to the report. "When Loopt's assets are layered into Green Dot's platform, we believe that a significant opportunity emerges for Green Dot to become a large-scale player in mobile technology solutions at the retail point of sale," he said.
But, Green Dot — and the other mobile wallet providers — have a bigger task before them than simply integrating the POS device and the mobile phone, Dave Kaminsky, an analyst in Mercator Advisory Group's emerging technology service, told the Business Press. "[T]he development of mobile payments requires input from a large number of organizations across both the payments and mobile industries."
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