KushCash is a mobile payments solution that launched in 2005, and they’re pushing out a new version of the service this morning. Back in 2005, mobile person-to-person payments were seen as a viable niche, since PayPal didn’t yet have a mobile product. KushCash promoted their product to the urban elite – the surf and skater crowds in Southern California where the company is based.
Their world changed significantly in March 2006 when PayPal Mobile launched.
KushCash is a not-bad service but it requires a software download that most phones don’t support. PayPal’s solution uses the text message platform that all cell phones can access. Given PayPal has an easier to use product and it actually works on most phones, I was compelled to ask KushCash this simple question: How do you get over the PayPal hurdle?
The answer:
Hmmm…good question, how do we tackle that giant? We don’t. At least for now. Why tackle a bloated army when you can train a village of talented warriors from far away? I think that what KushCash offers is a completely different beast in its own – yes, of course we’d love users to use KushCash for all types of merchant, sales and personal transactions – and they do, but what I think that KushCash offers that behemoths like Paypal and other smaller competitors don’t is personality, ease-of-use and a fresh format and attitude. If the mobile payment market was set in an old black and white high school movie – we’d be the new student that arrived in the middle of the year. Handsome, yes. Smart? Yes. A rebel? Yes. But he loves his mother and comes home every night for supper, but tears it up on the drag strip after dark. We’re the first to offer social lending features and financial network bragging rights. Regardless of all of that, I think that KushCash would appeal to users that don’t want to use what’s out there. There are users that want a service that functions like Paypal Mobile, but maybe executes it in an easier and more relaxed way but backed with the same safe and secure financial/privacy measures. Feedback is great so far, we have surfers, bankers and babysitters that use KushCash for social lending AND for business.
We’ll check back in to KushCash in six months and see how they’re doing.