Ubiquitous Computing-Driven Business Models: A Case of SK Telecom's Financial Services

We expect that one of the earliest and most successful applications of ubiquitous computing will evolve around financial services. From the mobile financial services offered by Korea’s SK Telecom (SKT), we can catch a glimpse of emerging value networking many telcos may ultimately adopt not only to survive competition but also to sustain their long-term growth. With the marketplace for mobile communications service approaching saturation, SKT has been looking into associating its infrastructure to content provision, platform/system integration and application service provision to open up new business opportunities. It understood that the fusion between its mobile network and financial services could result in value networks benefiting both service providers and service users. MONETA, as an electronic payment platform, became the cornerstone of SKT’s initiative. However, due to its disruptive nature on existing business models, the company had to face significant technical and non-technical challenges.