Beem: Mobile money

Beem is new UK service which enables users to transer money to each other or to pay for goods and services using their mobile phone. Beem allows you to create an account tied to your mobile phone. You can transfer money into it from your regular bank account, then make payments by text.

Beem describe the simplicity of their service on their website, "If you have a bank account you can download and upload money via your debit card, if you don't use a bank you can still use Beem because friends and family can Beem cash to you. Right now, you can Beem mobile money or send prepay top ups to friends and family on any network and handset in the UK from anywhere in the world.

We are continually signing up businesses and other organisations who want to Beem on a regional, national or international basis. In certain regions you can also pay for a pint, pizza, cab or club membership with the organisations accepting Beem. All mobile phones are suitable, and it doesn't matter which network you are on or which bank you are with."

One of the main advantages of beem is that it makes transferring money from one bank account to another almost as simple as handing someone a tend pound note. I can see it working at its best in social situations. For example borrowing cash from a friend and paying them back immediately by text. Alternatively another transaction made all the simpler is ordering good online or over the phone. The idea is that this can all be done in a simple text message because Beem already has a record of your bank details. All of this can be achieved at the cost of a standard text message.




While I think Beem is a great innovation, I do not think it will be replacing cash or credit card payments anytime soon. For one it has only recruited a handful of stores that will accept their text message as a form of payment.

Its expansion in terms of other countries is dependent on the popularity of mobile phones. However it is something that I could see taking off in more developed countries. At the moment it is being marketed more specifically at young people but this is a service that in time I could see a lot more people making use of. A mobile phone is increasingly becoming something that we cannot live without in Western Culture and the simplicity of making transactions using the service is a reason I could see this taking off.