Obopay is the new way to send money… over your phone! This online company has designed a system for sending money via text message, your mobile phone’s internet browser, or an application downloaded on your phone. Just sign up for your free account, wire some cash into your new “cell phone wallet” (i.e. an Obopay account), and you’re good to go!

So who’s interested in Obopay? AT&T customers are 20% more likely to show interest in Obopay than total wireless customers at all four major carriers, whereas T-Mobile customers are 24% less likely to be interested in Obopay’s services.

We were surprised, though, that Verizon Wireless customers aren’t showing as much interest in Obopay as customers of other carriers. Verizon Wireless is the only carrier that offers an Obopay application for their customers’ phones (rather than requiring consumers to go through a web browser). The partnership between Obopay and Verizon Wireless began in mid-June, so perhaps a month isn’t enough time to tip the scales of interest between wireless customers. It will be interesting to see if, in future months, Verizon Wireless customers are grabbing a larger share of cellular customer interest at Obopay’s site.

It turns out that females are very interested in Obopay. When compared to the make-up of wireless customers at the four major carriers, females are 33% more likely to have visited the Obopay site. What makes Obopay so appealing for female cell phone users? One of the reasons Obopay gives for using their service is to send money to your kids at college. Perhaps Moms are picking up on this and helping to tip the scales female? Or maybe females are suddenly showing men up with their technical savviness?

Obopay seems like a cool new way to make money more versatile, and certainly creates yet another way to incorporate your cell phone into your daily life. But will it take off, or remain just another cell phone fad? Obopay currently requires both the sender and receiver of wired money to have an Obopay account. The sender obviously can’t send money without the account, but the receiver can’t get the money without signing up for an account as well.

Consider this: According to Wikipedia, the first fax machine was sold by one Giovanni Caselli in 1861. That’s fantastic for Signore Caselli, but to where or to whom would the purchaser send a fax? Obopay’s current account holders can send all the money they want, but will there be receiving accounts ready to access the money sent?

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