Sunday, September 24, 2017

POSB Smart Buddy smart watch.


Hi, my name is Veron and I am not a tech-savvy person, period.
I still prefer to receive hardcopy bills and bank statements, and for the same reason, I never, ever pay my bills online.
Once, my Hubby chided me for being kayu, but he stopped after he accidentally paid the same bill TWICE because the screen hung and he clicked "Pay" again.
This further convinced me that technology can be evil.

I first heard about POSB's Smart Buddy watch on Kiss 92 FM while driving to work, and as expected, I had mixed reactions.

Firstly, for P1 and P2 Math, there are money components which require students to count, subtract and add money.
To prep Adam for recess, I spent a considerable amount of time letting him handle physical money and let him buy food at the foodcourts.
I am not sure how cashless is going to help the children in this Math topic.


But like it or not, CASHLESS is here to stay and will be the way to go.
source: SGAG

Have you guys seen this meme already? LOL


I was caught by surprise when I found out how advanced China is in terms of Cashless payments.
Did you know you can pay for anything in China simply by scanning the QR code and paying through Wechat or Alipay
Customer using cashless payment by scanning QR code and paying through Wechat.
Source: https://www.techinasia.com/chinese-tourists-wechat-alipay-global-expansion

This was further confirmed by my colleague who shared a video on Facebook about a roadside peddler allowing customers to pay via Wechat (picture above).
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Holy macoroni are they serious?! Where in the world have I been?!!!
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Introducing the POSB Smart Buddy (aka my-son-is-savvier-than-me) watch:



Smart Buddy is the world's first in-school savings & payments device wearable on your child's wrist.
Currently, there are 24 schools participating in this Smart Buddy program and you can find the list of schools HERE, or if your child's school isn't one of the participating schools, you may REQUEST for his/her school to participate via HERE (because that's the only way you can get this watch, you can't buy it from POSB branches).


The Smart Buddy watch is linked to an App on your mobile device, and you can track his or her expenditure, set the allowance limit, and see what he or she has bought during the day.
Sometimes, kids tend to overspend on stationery.




Features of Smart Buddy Watch:
- Manage your child's daily allowance limit
- Monitor your child's expenses
- Set savings goals
- Track the amount your child has saved
- Track whether your child has boarded the bus home or to school
- Track your child's location within the school
- Can be used at selected merchants like Sheng Siong, Popular, Pizza Hut, Comfort Delgro etc.

Adam's school is currently not one of the participating schools for Smart Buddy program but  here are some feedback from students/ parents whose kids are:
- No more worrying about forgetting to put money into kids' wallets.
- Don't have to worry if child loses his or her wallet in school/ bus.
- Do not have to worry about extortion of money from bullies.
- If your child suddenly needs to purchase eg. a file/ exercise book and you didn't give him/ her extra pocket money, he/she can purchase using the Smart Buddy watch (if the expenditure exceeds the daily allowance limit, he/she can call the parent to increase the limit)

So yeap, if you wish your child can use this smart watch, you may request for his/her school to participate in this program, it won't replace cash, it is merely an alternative payment method for the kids! And psst, I heard there are separate (ie. faster) queues in the canteens if you choose to tap & pay.

*Thank you POSB for the opportunity to attend your media briefing, you guys are fabulous!
You've absolutely changed my mind about going cashless, so much so that I'm tempted to use the watch for myself, linked to my hubby's bank account of course :P