Crowd-sourced funding is hot these days, with outfits like Kickstarter and Indiegogo allowing anyone with a hot business idea to pitch their service, product, or–in this case–app to those bleeding edge enough to want to support an idea before it’s even built.
MiWallet has that hot idea, and now they want you to help fund it. Think of the convenience of the Apple Store app checkout via iTunes connected with the security of Google Wallet, and you’ve got the general idea.
So, what’s the big deal, here? There are a ton of apps that already allow you to walk in to a store, scan a product bar code, pay, and then walk out with that item. I feel strangely guilty every time I do that at an Apple retail store, even though I love the convenience of paying via my iTunes account.
But there’s the rub. Apple owns my credit card information. I can only use that app in an Apple Store. Similarly, I can only use the Walmart Pay and Go app at a Walmart store. I have to use my Starbucks app at Starbucks. Get it?
MiWallet hopes to change that with an app that allows you to keep your own credit card information on your iPhone, and not farm it out to the Apples and Walmarts of the world. It also aims to become an app that you can use at ANY retail store, though that may be a long road to reality.
VP of Business Development for MiWallet, Timothy Griffin, told Cult of Mac today that the MiWallet app is just getting started, with about six months to go, if they get funded. They’re currently working with a couple of other investors, but really want to have the freedom of crowd-sourced financing through Indiegogo.
Griffin says that they don’t have any retailers finalized as of yet, but are working with a few in the Boston area to help pilot the service.
The company is looking for your donations at their Indiegogo project page, where a small $10 pledge will get you into the beta testing program, and higher denominations will get you things like stickers, keychains, and iPhone cases. Really, though, it’s about supporting a great idea.
MiWallet may or may not be successful in the long run, but it’s probably about time we supported a team that wants to empower us to use technology for our own benefit, rather than as an extension of any specific corporate plans or goals, right?
Source: Indiegogo
