Fresh in via Springwise comes the news that American Apparel is the first real-world retailer to open a shop in Second Life.
In an earlier posting I wondered how long it would be before a bank opened in Second Life. Not a Second Life bank, but a real bank.
The question is – who?
Once again, the safe money won’t be on the likes of HSBC.
Interesting news.. the commercial world has entered SL.. Although the initiatives currently are mainly marketing-driven, reaching out to a vast number of young users. Also the only bank so far entering this world did it with marketing purposes. (not with much success, but making failure is learning, isn’t it?)
Do we believe there is a market for banking business in SL? What kind of services can be offered?
Harm
if you look at the level of ‘off line’ transactions in the virtual world I think there’s real potential for a transactional business at the back end.
Out of interest, which bank are you referring to?
Cheers
Roger
the bank i referring to is Wells Fargo, which started a “stagecoach”-island in SL. The concept was to educate young people on personal financial services, using a sort of demo-environment. Lately they have pulled the plug. I don’t know the exact reasons, but bugs/ safety issues is said to be a reason.
I recently read about MindArk, developing a bank-card to withdraw real cash based on the generated credits in Entropia. Don’t know whether they partner with a bank.
Ciao,
Harm