Students and medical profession adopt new mobile payment technology

Pocit, a cellphone payment system launched in South Africa with just under 1 000 users in October last year, has grown its customer base to tens of thousands of users by targeting a younger audience and the medical profession.

David Reynders, managing director of Pocit said, “We have tried lots of approaches, donations to political parties by cellphone, buying direct from magazine ads by cellphone but nothing has worked quite like the airtime and cellphone addiction on university campuses.

“Whereas those over the age of 30 often struggle with concepts or a range of concerns including safety – and cellphone payments are the safest way to use money anywhere in the world – students, those in school or at university, just get it. They have an almost inherent passion and ability for mobile technology.”

Students make up the majority of Pocit users, but their purchases tend to remain relatively small, mostly to buy airtime. The biggest spenders on Pocit are a surprisingly conservative and much older group – doctors and other medical practitioners who use Pocit to ensure faster payment times of medical bills. These payments are processed by Healthbridge, Pocit’s sister company. Healthbridge then uses Pocit to send an sms to the patient and doctors report that they get payment within, on average, 24 hours of the visit.

“It is significant,” Reynders says, “that such a conservative group – as doctors – trust Pocit to safely and reliably ensure payment.”

Reynders said that Pocit ran a campus cellphone payment system campaign in March and April, “which saw daily sign ups grow rapidly.”

Students can register with Pocit www.pocit.mobi (or call 08600 76248), and receive rewards for signing up and referring new subscribers. They also qualify, between now and end April, to win one of four Ford Fiestas 1.4 Ambiente’s worth R140 000 each, 150 IPods and other prizes.

Reynders said: “A cellphone payment system like Pocit is the safest and fastest way to pay someone or to receive money, unlike cash or the internet, cellphone payments are thief proof. Not a single cellphone payment system has been hacked into globally. Even if the phone is stolen, the payment remains locked in cyberspace until the person gets a new phone; they unlock the money with their pin.”