Masabi Wins BLN Money In Mobile Award

Masabi works with thetrainline.com, as well as Chiltern Railways and Virgin Trains

With a name like Money In Mobile Forum 2011, today's BLN event in London addressed the question that's on everyone's mind - how do we make cash out of this great technology?

One man who knows is Giacomo Biggiero, chief product officer at mobile payments solutions company Masabi. Biggiero picked up the Money in Mobile Award at today's event, beating a stellar line up with his presentation on the success of Masabi's railway ticketing app. 

We caught up with Biggiero in the immediate aftermath of his company's win to find out what makes Masabi such a success. 

The company has focused on railway ticketing payments, and Biggiero says that this industry is perfectly suited to incorporating mobile ticketing. "We specialise in mobile ticketing solutions in the rail industry," he says. "We've been working in the transport industry for a while. We've essentially noticed that, unlike the airline industry, where most passengers buy their tickets online, rail passengers are actually buying their tickets at the train station through vending machines and ticket windows. We thought this was a good use case for mobile, for people who want something a bit more on the move, and a bit more last-minute." 

The Masabi system transforms the mobile phone into the vending machine, and makes your phone the actual ticket, says Biggiero, and he believes it is an application of technology that could take mobile payment mainstream. "This could be the first mCommerce transaction for the regular user, because we're actually solving a problem," he says. 

The mobile ticketing system currently uses a barcode system. Users can buy tickets on their mobile phone, and a barcode displays on the screen. This is then scanned on machines at the station. The company has set up a scheme at Marylebone Station in London that is using the technology with Chiltern Railways. Visual barcode scanners have been installed, and customers can buy their tickets on the mobile phone and then show the device to the ticket barriers to get through them. "The entire experience is on the mobile phone," says Biggiero.  

"We've currently got live products out with thetrainline.com, Chiltern Railways, and Virgin Trains. And we've got signed contracts to expand that - we'll more than double it this year."

And Biggiero says that Masabi's solution can be scaled to incorporate other technologies such as NFC. "I don't think NFC is going to compete with us at all, I think the two things are complementary. We're very keen to see NFC being picked up. We want mobile manufacturers to pick that up because it's another way to deliver the ticket."

Masabi's achievement in the railway industry makes it good value for its award today. In an sector not known for its rapid adoption of change, Masabi has pushed through a new standard for ticketing across the UK, and encouraged train operators to embrace the technology. Communicating the benefits to the operators was key. "There's convenience for the user but there's also demand from the operator side," he says. "Shifting users onto the mobile channel means they can reduce their cost of sales, it's an additional retail channel, and there's no operating costs either."

Apart from conviinceing the train companies that mCommerce could be a positive step, Biggiero says that the other main challenge was making the solution cross platform. "It's more a mobile solution than an iPhone app," he says. "We're running on iOS, but we're also on Android, BlackBerry, and some of the older Nokias, Sony Ericssons, Samsungs. So we have developed a cross-platform mobile payment solution." 

And while the company is specialising in transport for the time being, Biggiero says that there are plenty of applications for his company's products. "Transport is the bastion of mCommerce because it's solving a real-world problem," he says. "Once we establish the user base, we can start seeing what else we can do with the application. There are further monetisation opportunities with that, so we're talking about ancillary sales, onward travel, targeted messaging, and that kind of thing ... It's all about exploring what's out there; there are no limits."