Citing the lack of contactless enabled terminals to support the system and other issues, Norwegian mobile payments service Valyou has announced it is closing the service as of November 30TH. The service co-owned by Telenor, DNB and SpareBank 1 first started in 2008 through the creation of a 50/50 joint venture called TSM Nordic. Though formed in 2008, Valyou only launched in 2014 and despite the delay, the infrastructure is not in place.
Commenting on its reasons for closing, Valyou says
“The combination of slower than expected activation of NFC enabled POS terminals and the engagement of more banks & mobile operators into the cooperation has resulted in a much lower than expected end user uptake.” Furthermore Valyou said its service, “most user friendly and future proofed mobile payment technology on the market today” but “we must accept that, while users of Valyou have been very satisfied with the payment experience the market is not yet ready for this kind of solution and the closure of the company is a sad consequence of this fact.”
While the industry has rushed to launch mobile payment services around the world, the fact that the infrastructure (contactless enabled terminals) has not caught up in many markets shows that a broad acceptance network is a critical part of mobile payment success today and will be down the line.
Overview by Tristan Hugo-Webb, Associate Director, Global Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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