Betfair buys mobile betting software
The Sunday Times reports that Rapid Mobile has sold its Mobet software to Betfair.
Mobet is a fully transactional mobile client for Betfair, allowing you to back and lay on the full range of markets directly from your mobile phone using your normal account - anytime, anywhere.
I think the ability to trade anything, anywhere will become more and more important. This is especially true for what I would call location/time specific events or outcomes - ie where it is helpful to be on site and there is a time dependency; obviously sporting events fall into this category and so it is natural that demand / take-up for mobile trading solutions has been strongest here. Also, sports trading or betting is considered by many users and by regulators as a leisure activity and so the cultural and regulatory barriers to mobile activity are lower than for instance financial products.
Indeed, while I am certainly no expert, I would speculate that the biggest impediment to reaching the tipping point in terms of mobile trading solutions becoming ubiquitous in financial markets is not technological - at least not in terms of the interface - but relates to security and compliance. The trading provider that creates a streamlined solution that meets the security and compliance requirements of wholesale financial services providers and customers will have an interesting headstart in what will ultimately be a very important channel.
