Oliver, writing at Mobile Crunch says that mobile payment player, Mobile Lime, have raised $10 million in further funding. I share Oliver’s complete bafflement.
I wrote about Mobile Lime before in the context of a pretty thorough analysis of the mobile payments sector. I was pretty damning in my conclusions about the product’s usability and therefore chances of success. I explained that Buckley‚Äôs First Law of Mobile Payments is that if the transaction process is any more complicated than using a credit card or cash, it will never succeed.
The trouble with Mobile Lime is that it’s a awful lot more complicated than that. Not a bit more. An awful lot more. Like, you have to phone Mobile Lime to pre-approve a purchase.
Can you imagine having to phone MasterCard every time want to spend some money?
The usability was then tested “in the wild” by a journalist. And he showed that my predictions were pretty much spot on.
In both posts I concluded that Mobile Lime must “change or die” and I see nothing to dissuade me of that. So I wonder what the investors know that isn’t public? Or are they just throwing in more money hoping to rescue their original funds somehow?
At some point Mobile Lime and their investors will come to the same conclusion I’m afraid because “change, die or keep getting more investment” isn’t much of a long term strategy.
By the way, I know that a lot of VCs read MobHappy. I know an entrepreneur who is just in a funding round at the moment who has a much better system – it really is as easy as using cash or a credit card and thus has the Buckley seal of approval. Let me know if you want an intro to him. And no, it’s not me 
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