mARKET

Micro Life
Micro Life

Table Content

Business Description 3 Our Mission Statement 4 Management & Ownership 5 Product of Service 6 Market Overview / Competition / Market Share 7 A. Industry Analysis 7 B. Marketplace Analysis 8 C. Competition 9 Customer Profile 9 Objectives & Strategy 10 A. Product Strategy 10 B. Place/Distribution Strategy 10 C. Price Strategy 11 D. Sales Strategy 11 E. Operations Strategy 11 F. Development Strategy 12 Advertising & Promotion 12 Survey (25 People) 13 Rodgers 5 characteristics 15 Relative Advantages: 17 Compatibility: 18 Complexity: 19 Triability 19 Observability 20 Sources 21

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Business Description
Micro Life is an innovative, convenient all-in-one card for those who use to carry all their cards in their daily life. Because of Micro Life, consumers will not have to carry them around. Micro Life wants their customers to experience the new technology; they will be able to move around without having to worry about losing their IDs or Credit Card. This card can hold up to 10 pieces of information or transaction cards.. We have a contract with Chase, Bank of America, different hospitals and some retailers. By using the card, the consumer is able to pay, travel, get in his car or house as fast as he can say “Micro Life”!

Our Mission Statement Designed to make your daily life easy, convenient and secure, Micro Life can be used in all stores, websites, banks partners. It allows you to take live your life without worrying about losing your important information, carrying your credit card or healthcare card. Micro Life, designed to make life easier. Designed to make your daily life easy, convenient and secure, Micro Life can be used in all stores, websites, banks partners. It allows you to take live your life without worrying about losing your important information, carrying your credit card or healthcare card. Micro Life, designed to make life easier.

Management & Ownership

The top four founders will run Micro Life and financial decisions will be made by JEAN-BAPTISTE Matthieu, GERMANY Kyle, MOORE Kelsey and DONG Baichen. We are in partnership with the government, hospitals, Starbucks, Visa and MasterCard Company, American Express, Chase, Bank of America, Citibank…. There will be 30 workers hired part time in which they will earn $9.50 per hour. There will be five part time and five full time hired as technicians in which they will earn $15-$18 per hour. Advertising agency, NYA, will help Micro Life get promoted through billboards, magazines, posters and media ads. The website management company, Omega Decision Inc. will manage all the transactions and purchase orders online, and will also update and maintain the Micro Life website. Micro Life will have its own private lawyer, accountant, and banker. Four young women decided to expand a business to better a public service. They are energetic, dedicated, hard working, and have a willingness to learn something new.

Product of Service

Micro Life is a card that provides an easier way for carrying cards every day. Micro Life is made in different colors such as Blue, Black, White and Red with the logo on the top. We provide it with a key-token which is better to carry without convenience. The card and the key token have a built-in sensor computer chip inside to recognize each card like our Visa Card. We sell Micro Life for $29,99 individually in stores. However, customers can have discounts or a free card if they take it with our partners. We also provide customized card design in our official website for customers to differentiate their card or key token, such as choosing a provided pattern or adding their own photos on it. Customers can buy online or in stores, use the card at airports or at police controls. They just have to enter the confidential information with the digits appropriate for each card and the information of the card goes to the Micro Life. The wonderful thing about these cards is that each one has a built-in sensor chip; this is convenient for the consumer so that they won’t have to show their card every time. They can simply put it in their wallets and purses, and then tag it on the Card Reader and go. For security purpose, we have a register program which is free for the customer to register their card online. Each card has a serial number on the back of the card that verifies the owner therefore; the customer can create their profile in our official website. When logged into their account, they can easily check their information, check their credit card balance, add values, and make transfers... If the customer reports a loss of their card, our system will block the card immediately and replace a new card for them to pick it up in our booth locations and/or mail it directly to their home.
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Market Overview / Competition / Market Share A. Industry Analysis According to market researcher Gartner, the worldwide market for Electronic ID card and microcontroller-based cards in 2007 accounted to 3.3 billion units. Against this background, the additional business generated through the German ID card decision seems relatively small. "Infineon estimates the volume to about 7 million units per year—perhaps more since the government will create incentives to foster a quick introduction," Houdeau said. Since other EU countries are considering similar rollouts, Houdeau estimated that there will be a potential market opportunity to about 38 million units annually. Seventy-eight percent of the total volume is represented by simple, cheap subscriber identity module cards. Thus, the market for the more complex ID cards adds up to about 5 percent of the remaining total market volume. In terms of value, the ID card impact however would be significantly higher since they represent a higher value per piece.
In 2007, among the smart card vendors Gemalto was the dominating factor with a market share of 36 percent, followed by Giesecke & Devrient with 16 percent and Oberthur Card Systems with 9 percent, Gartner said. Top supplier of ICs for chip cards was Infineon with shipments accounting for 28 percent of the market, followed by Samsung, Atmel Corp. and STMicroelectronics. B. Marketplace Analysis

Unknown to many U.S. consumers, the tools to combat this fraud are available, and are being used successfully in Europe and Asia on a regular basis. Smart cards have been used to validate users and make secure payments in Europe for nearly a decade, and have proven to be an effective method for preventing fraud, and positively identifying individuals, particularly in e-commerce transactions over the Internet. So why haven’t card issuers rolled out similar programs in the United States? The answer is rather convoluted.
Although the genesis of smart card development was in Europe, not America, and the
“productization” evolution continued to develop on parallel paths between the continents; adoption has been slow to occur in America. In the meantime, The EU has standardized on EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) standards for smart credit and debit cards, which will go into effect by the beginning of 2005. The U.S. marketplace has neither accepted EMV standards, nor has any plan to do so. In America, card issuers do not consider consumer fraud, as measured by a percentage of total card transactions, to have reached a level where they must voluntarily implement a technology that they had assisted the European Union to adopt. There is no federal legislation in the U.S. to get tough on identity fraud, and, as a result, no value proposition to follow the European course. America’s slow evolution of integrating smart card technology is an enigma in the view of its perennial role as the world’s leader in adopting high tech solutions for everyday problems. When those solutions combine security, computers, chips and communications, the U.S. should not be years behind. C. Competition

The fact that our product combines the smart card ID but in a small size give us an innovation. So there is no real competition.
Customer Profile

* Male/Female * Age: 18-45 * Location: U.S. * Income: $25,000 and + | * Own plenty of cards * Owns an Apple/Mac PC * Owns a smart cellular * Education: High school degree |
Objectives & Strategy A. Product Strategy

Micro Life is designed to make transactions and travels convenient for people who often use multiple methods of payment or identification. By having a card that can be used in multiple outlets, building, services consumers do not have to worry about carrying other cards or ID. Micro Life also allows consumers to customize their cards with images of their choice (done for free) on our website. This will let the consumer feel as if they can interact with our company and have decisions made on their own. Customers will choose Micro Life because it gives them variety in many areas and convenience is an important aspect in a person’s life when they are busy and always on the run. B. Place/Distribution Strategy

Micro Life will be sold in on our online site, in banks or provide by the government. Consumers have a variety of places they can buy the Micro Life in case they are not in close proximity to another location.

C. Price Strategy

Our pricing will be to either buy online at $29.99 per card. These cards can be constantly refilled with cards by doing so at the booths or online. The maximum anyone can put into a card will be 10 cards. Plus, Micro Life will never expire. D. Sales Strategy

Most of our sales will done online through our website. We will have part time workers that will be available at the stations to help customers if they have any questions. As said before, because most of our sales do not need workers unless someone has an issue/question, we do not need to hire a full staff that is part time (only technicians – in the case of technical difficulties). In order to support the sales effort, management will check up on how sales are doing and think of promotions to draw in more consumers. E. Operations Strategy

We are using our workers as the main way to add value for customers for they will be available to help when/if consumers have questions on how to use the card and the reader. Readers will be clearly labeled for assistance and will be easier for the customers to understand. Micro Life will be manufactured in China and be shipped overseas two times a week in order to supply enough cards to consumers. The quality of the cards is considered low quality because it is made of plastic; as long as it functions through the machines, then that is all that matters. We want the customers to feel comfortable asking us for help if they do not understand how to work the machines. F. Development Strategy

In order to get the businesses running: signing of many contracts with various companies need to take place. In order for each company to get profit from this, an agreement needs to be signed in order for Micro Life to work with Hotels, Restaurants, Fast Foods, Clothing shops. To make this concept work and come together, the amount of money available is crucial therefore, we need to have loans in order before having the ability to get the business going
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Advertising & Promotion

The idea is to have more visual advertising as possible. That means that we are going to put posters in government offices and on big signs. We are going to have information in Banks, Hospitals, shopping centers, magazines etc…
Finally some Spots TV are possible.
Survey (25 People)

Rodgers 5 characteristics

Adopter category | Definition | Innovators | Innovators are the first individuals to adopt an innovation. Innovators are willing to take risks, youngest in age, have the highest social class, have great financial lucidity, very social and have closest contact to scientific sources and interaction with other innovators. Risk tolerance has them adopting technologies which may ultimately fail. Financial resources help absorb these failures. (Rogers 1962 5th ed, p. 282) | Early Adopters | This is the second fastest category of individuals who adopt an innovation. These individuals have the highest degree of opinion leadership among the other adopter categories. Early adopters are typically younger in age, have a higher social status, have more financial lucidity, advanced education, and are more socially forward than late adopters. More discrete in adoption choices than innovators. Realize judicious choice of adoption will help them maintain central communication position (Rogers 1962 5th ed, p. 283). | Early Majority | Individuals in this category adopt an innovation after a varying degree of time. This time of adoption is significantly longer than the innovators and early adopters. Early Majority tend to be slower in the adoption process, have above average social status, contact with early adopters, and seldom hold positions of opinion leadership in a system (Rogers 1962 5th ed, p. 283) | Late Majority | Individuals in this category will adopt an innovation after the average member of the society. These individuals approach an innovation with a high degree of skepticism and after the majority of society has adopted the innovation. Late Majority are typically skeptical about an innovation, have below average social status, very little financial lucidity, in contact with others in late majority and early majority, very little opinion leadership. | Laggards | Individuals in this category are the last to adopt an innovation. Unlike some of the previous categories, individuals in this category show little to no opinion leadership. These individuals typically have an aversion to change-agents and tend to be advanced in age. Laggards typically tend to be focused on “traditions”, likely to have lowest social status, lowest financial fluidity, be oldest of all other adopters, in contact with only family and close friends, very little to no opinion leadership. |

Relative Advantages: - Smart cards are compact, which means they have a small to carry. It offers a lot of travel convenience that beneficial to the business people that reduce the need to carry all of the vital information at all times.
- Smart cards technology is very safe: n It uses encryption technology: In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information (referred to as plaintext) using an algorithm (called a cipher) to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information (in cryptography, referred to as cipher text). The reverse process, i.e., to make the encrypted information readable again, is referred to as decryption (i.e., to make it unencrypted). Authentication technology is applied to the product as well. Authentication is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a datum or entity. This might involve confirming the identity of a person or software program, tracing the origins of an artifact, ensuring that a product is what it’s packaging and labeling claims to be.
- Smart cards are easily replaceable. It has a low cost All you need is reprogramming which could be done by the software automatically. * Smart cards have a way better looking compare to the traditional same type of items/devices.

Compatibility:

Definition: The level of compatibility that an innovation has to be assimilated into an individual’s life. * In our case we’re really confident of changing people’s habits to carrying all identification or credit cards in one device for faster transaction. * And also, our goal is people will be adapted of using “one card” doing anything eventually. * We will keep updating the capability by the feedback from the customer’s using to improve it as a compact device that people are pleasured to use.

Complexity:

Definition: If the innovation is perceived as complicated or difficult to use, an individual is unlikely to adopt it. * In our product case, complexity is really one of the most important original purposes that we created this innovation, which is helping people to make their lifestyle easier. * Very easy to use: Swipe the card – have it scanned/ show the key token – finished authentication * And also, we’re selling the product with a CD/Paper instruction so people will easily understand the using of this item.

Triability

Definition: How easily an innovation may be experimented. If a user is able to test an innovation, the individual will be more likely to adopt it. * We will have sample machines to be triable in different locations, retailer stores will be considered one of the most efficient place to have people to get it experimented. * Also, we will have the device able to experiment near the workplace/ manufactories so that people can easy to access and get answered how the whole concept of this innovation. We will also get instant feedback from customers which will help us to improve the whole concept of the product. * There will be none cancelation fee, so that customers can feel free to get one if they feel this product is any good worth to use and they can unsubscribe it anytime without a charge.

Observability

Definition: The extent that an innovation is visible to others. An innovation that is more visible will drive communication among the individual’s peers and personal networks and will in turn create more positive or negative reactions. * As the definition, observability is absolutely crucial part of the 5 factors. So we have it planned to massively promote the use of this innovation, by TV ad, radio ads and some visual posters. * And also we will have some companies free trial our product by having our devices in their buildings, so people will see how much convenience this product will bring to their life. * And we’re also offering the customize design of the tokens and cards, so all of your products will eventually come as a “unique” item in the world, which favors customers by its uniqueness.

Sources

http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800537696_499495_NT_fd743a6e.HTM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_plan

http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/authentication/identity-protection-smart-card-adoption-america_1122