The computer-literate consumers of the future, who have no credit cards today, should have an easier time shopping online as online wallets and debit cards emerge. Teens type in the PIN on the RocketCash Web site and redeem the bottle tops for credits with 100 merchants linked to RocketCash. Sprite chose RocketCash because of the two companies' shared interest in mobilizing teens, and because of RocketCash's family-friendly content, a Sprite official says. RocketCash prohibits pornography, violence, and other explicit material from the site and screens all merchant offerings. Parents or children can open RocketCash accounts using credit cards, gift certificates, or Cybergold or Beenz online currency.
Parents also can set preferences regarding which merchants their children can access.
American Express Co. this month debuted Cobaltcard, a stored-value card. Most analysts still are betting on the traditional players to emerge as market leaders. Plus, analysts say, parents may not be as apt to give their kids a RocketCash account because they're limited to online shopping. Sprite is certainly on the right track in targeting teens, but it has the wrong partner. But Gartner Group senior analyst Avivah Litan isn't so sure.