Security

The Genesis Chip & Pin cards guarantees cardholders better security and convenience. Genesis is structured for the end users having security in place while being given good quality service. The Genesis Card is a highly secure card as it leverages on the eTranzact Strong Authentication Tool. The ESA is a one-time dynamic PIN generated via the card holder’s mobile phone to authorize any transaction.

Card Types

The Genesis Card is made up of three types: Premier, Advantage and Credit cards.

Genesis Premier card is a Debit card tied to the customer bank account. The Genesis Advantage is a prepaid which can be loaded/recharged through the branches of any 22 Commercial Banks connected to the eTranzact platform. The Advantage Card is useful for other value added schemes such as Loyalty scheme and Discount scheme & Credit cards. All three cards are acceptable on electronic payment channels such as ATM, POS, WEB and Mobile Commerce.

Benefits

Having a Genesis Card comes with many benefits including ability to purchase airline tickets at discounted prices, pay Cable TV subscription, purchase airtime of any Telecom service, pay for services, do fund transfers, etc.

Mobile and Web

One of the most significant benefits of the card is its adaptability to mobile and web. Genesis Prepaid Cards can be mapped to your mobile phone, thereby making your phone the hub of your transactions. You can make payments and transfer funds directly via your mobile phone. This has prepared the way for our Mobile Money services which kicks off fully early 2011.

All you need to do to download the eTranzact Mobile Menu (eTranzact mCommerce J2ME application), Cardholders can send short code to the following numbers:

Text D to
• MTN – 4045
• ZAIN – 32060
• GLO – 30030

For more information on the Genesis card and how it can be obtained, contact brand@etranzact.net.

About eTranzact

eTranzact International PLC is Nigeria’s first award winning multi-application and multi-channel electronic switching and payment processing platform. The company has operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa and UK and aims to provide Nigerians, Africans and ultimately the world with cutting edge payment solutions.

Nokia has been in the news of late and they appear to be a key pivot in this change. For the first time, a manufacturer is taking pre-orders for a mobile device (the Nokia N8). For the first time in Nigeria, a manufacturer is meeting with developers, listening and actively supporting them. For the first time, we have a Nigerian-made application pre-installed on a smartphone (GTB app on the Nokia N8).

To add more spice, for the first time, a manufacturer is interested in sending out review units of their devices. Back at Mobifest 2010, I had spoken with Praveen Shetty, Head of Solutions at Nokia West Africa about getting review devices to Mobility Nigeria. At our meeting yesterday, he confirmed that he would work towards getting a Nokia N8 across to me for review once the first shipment arrives.

So, we can keep our fingers crossed and expect a detailed N8 review, all other things being equal.

I had a brief feel of the N8 at Nokia yesterday (both Praveen and Teemu had one each). Seeing and handling one in the flesh left good impressions. I can’t answer any questions on the N8 now, as my time with it was brief, but I am certainly looking forward to a review.

Nokia is not the only company rocking the boat. While I also cannot give details, I have it on good authority (this is not a rumour but a done deal) that the iPhone is coming to a Nigerian network soon. No; I can’t tell beyond this, so don’t ask.

Moving away from devices, there appears to be some progress on the m-commerce front. I gather that VTN is test-running their m-payment platform right now. MMIT is also at an advanced stage, having sucessfully sent money across national borders. The GTBank app pre-installed on the Nokia N8 already has me looking forward to using the device.

Once the hurdles of regulations are crossed, we can start rocking. We are looking forward to seeing home-grown apps and m-commerce blossoming.

The Nigerian mobile ecosystem is about to explode. Exciting days are ahead of us. Welcome to new possibilities!

Drive navigation, the term that Nokia uses for this, is a premium service requiring a subscription. I decided that in order to give the application a fair review I needed to try Drive Navigation out.

Fortunately, Nokia Maps has a menu embedded that lets users subscribe right on the handset you are using. Well, I dived in there, and was presented with the various subscription plans and fees, as well as a form to enter my credit card details.

In a few moments, I had purchased a 30-day licence. I recieved an SMS receipt:

I had also opted for an email version of the recipt (which contained more details).

The whole order process was smooth and easy. Impressive. Mobile commerce, if done right as in this case, will encourage more mobile users to make purchases right on their devices.

The 30-day subscription costs just N999.00, which is significantly less than most people spend on airtime monthly (Okay, okay; I’m speaking for myself), and it was completed under 5 minutes.

The payment services was handled by Tanla Oy, a company with indian origins that offers end-to-end mobile commerce, mobile entertainment, mobile internet and mobile advertising solutions.

After I entered my licence code in the appropriate menu on the phone, I was ready to go:

I’ll be putting Nokia Maps through its paces over the next few weeks. In addition, I’ll be doing same with Garmap for Mobile, which I also wrote about just yesterday.

Looks like I’ll be having fun for some time. Hopefully, I won’t get myself lost following either application Which is very, very unlikely, judging by what I have seen so far.

In the meantime, kudos to Nokia for making it easy to get a subscription to the Nokia Maps Drive navigation service.