I came across these tidbits from Client Server News (www.onlinereporter.com) ...re: digital wallets and encryption technology:
"People are not ready for [digital wallet] technology," said Kip Levin, analyst with Biz-Rate.com
AMEX Blue will have its own wallet product with fraud protection
Security startup goes under: critics dismiss TriStrata's security model as "based on a single omnipotent server model that doesn't work."
Digital Wallets? Never Heard of Them
A new study on digital wallets confirms what many have suspected for a while. Very few online shoppers have actually heard of them and fewer still use them, according to a recent Biz-Rate.com survey of 6,800 online buyers at the point of sale.
The survey, conducted in July, shows that only 4%, or 247 online shoppers, had actually used a wallet. Another 22% knew about the application and its capabilities while 16% only knew the expression digital wallet. The remaining 58% were unfamiliar with the concept.
Digital wallets store personal information such as credit card numbers, site logins, passwords, loyalty points and addresses and are supposed to make the online shopping experience smoother.
"People are not ready for this technology," said Kip Levin, analyst with Biz-Rate.com. Levin also attributed the lack of awareness to the high percentage of new buyers in the online marketplace.
According to the survey, Microsoft's was the preferred wallet with 61% of wallet users saying that they had used it in the past. A product called eWallet is said to have come in second with 22% followed by the AOL wallet at 14%.
In what should come as a worrying result to companies like CyberCash and Brodia that are aggressively pushing server-side or online wallets, the survey reports that 83% of online buyers who use digital wallets prefer downloadable applications stored on their desktop rather than wallets that are stored online.
Los Angeles-based BizRate.com said the survey was conducted at 1,500 online merchants.
Don't Leave Home javalobby.org
American Express, the company that tells you not to leave home without its charge card is now giving you a reason not to leave home at all. Its newest venture is Blue, an "evolving" credit card with special features for online shopping. Besides the traditional magnetic strip on the card, Blue also has a smart chip in it for extra added security in online purchases. Amex is offering the smart card readers free till the end of January, then they're $25. Starting in November Blue card members can sign up for the company's online wallet as well. There's also a fraud protection guarantee that protects users from unauthorized charges made online and return protection to protect against merchants with no-return policies.
TriStrata in Deep Water javalobby.org
Internet security software start-up TriStrata Inc, which only a year ago generated a lot of buzz for its innovative approach to security, is in deep water and floundering.
Almost all of its top management - including president and sales chief Kenneth Coulter and the heads of marketing and finance - have bailed in the last couple of months. And it appears the only senior managers left at the company are Bharath Kadaba, senior VP of engineering and services, and 75-year-old John Atalla, founder and chairman of the board.
Sources say TriStrata also faces a cash flow problem and has recently gone through a round of layoffs leaving the once 90-man company, after voluntary departures, with about 25-30 people, mostly engineering staff.
Atalla, the father of the PIN, or personal identification number, and inventor of the Atalla Box, which is said to secure 80% of all ATM transactions, founded the Redwood Shores, California company in 1996. TriStrata's investors include its board members John Young, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Thomas Perkins, co-founder of the marquee VC firm Kleiner Perkins, and William Zuendt, former COO of Wells Fargo, as well as VC firm Benchmark Capital.
TriStrata supposedly developed an unbreakable way to secure the Internet based on the so-called Vernam "one-time pad" cipher invented in 1917. The company claims that its Secure Information Management System software provides enterprises with an end-to-end security infrastructure to conduct e-business and offers out-of-the-box file security, e-mail security and virtual private networking capabilities. It was supposed to be a cheaper and better alternative to using a patchwork of point security products.
.... (SNIP) |
