A wallet for every man, woman, and childA pioneer in the development of payment solutions for e-commerce, CyberCash has recently been attempting to redefine its professional services. A much-hyped secure-payment venture called CyberCoin was scrapped in mid-1999, and the company refocused its efforts on promoting its electronic wallets. The so-called "e-wallet" enables consumers to enter account information, and then complete a purchase with a single click. Investors and industry analysts are watching the company carefully to see whether it will be able to overcome a more than $200 million deficit and gnawing questions about the long-term viability of the e-wallet.
From one e-cash company to another
CyberCash was started in 1994 by Robert Melton, who had previously founded e-payment company VeriFone (sold in 1997 to Hewlett-Packard). Today, CyberCash is the largest provider of payment solutions for e-businesses, allowing them to use CyberCash as a mediator between web sites and consumers. The CyberCash CashRegister allows online merchants to receive payments on their sites; CyberCash takes care of providing the SSL forms (for secure credit card transactions) and an electronic check service called PayNow. For consumers, CyberCash offers the InstaBuy electronic wallet, which allows customers to create a personal wallet, usable - with one-click checkout - on hundreds of e-commerce sites, including Barnesandnoble.com, Outpost.com, and Drugstore.com.
A close call for CyberCash
In the fall of 1999, when CyberCash didn't have enough money on hand to make it through the rest of the year, industry analysts began sounding the death knell for the six-year-old company. Remarkably, though, CyberCash was able to keep itself alive through a series of partnerships (including a high-profile deal with Visa to develop its electronic wallet) and new product rollouts. Most recently, the company signed deals to license payment software and services to Nortel Networks, SAP America Inc., and the Sprint Corporation. Even though CyberCash expects to incur losses for the indefinite future, it looks like the worst is over for CyberCash - but the fate of the company is still in consumers' back pockets.
