Montreal Tech Watch

Yinn, a telecommunication reseller / VOIP provider with prepaid phone cards, also announced this week plans to provide micropayements services to e-commerce websites and individuals.

People purchasing the YINN cards at standard retailers, with a minimum of $10, can have an online account at Yinn.ca where they can transfer funds to other users, and also make small purchases on websites using the system. When finalizing the purchase, the user will have to submit a PIN code found on the back of the purchased YINN card.

The scheme is relatively simple, maybe even too simplistic as the way they present it. Costs of the system for website owners is 10% of all transactions. Add also to that installation fees, plus commission fees, and I feel the solution is not mature enough for anyone wanting to do serious business. The website hints though that their primary market will be African and the Caribbean Islands, with Canada just a secondary market.

And of course, there are a lot to be said about the venture’s details, but I’ll be the last one to criticize an enthusiast entrepreneur. See a recent blog post here by a co-founder:

Kamit Communications Inc has been set up after several years of dreams, strewn sacrifices of obstacles, ridiculous and rejection … We are proud to announce the birth of our first international telecommunications company and micro-payment, a company citizen whose primary mission is to alleviate the expenditure on international telecommunications and finance customers and brave people we will serve…