Lemon Wallet
Lemon Wallet was a cloud-based digital wallet that allowed users to store digital copies of credit cards, debit cards, reward cards, as well as identification, and other card information. The service was released in July 2011 and the company is based in Palo Alto, California, United States.[1][2][3] Wences Casares was the company's CEO.
 | |
Type of site | Online service |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Founded | July 2011 |
| Headquarters | , United States |
| No. of locations | 1 (in Argentina) |
| Area served | United States |
| Founder(s) | Wences Casares |
| CEO | Wences Casares |
| Industry | Mobile wallet |
| Services | Freemium Lemon Wallet app; Subscription-based Lemon Wallet app |
| URL | www |
| Advertising | No |
| Registration | Required |
| Launched | June 2012 |
| Current status | Disabled |
The Lemon Network platform, launched in July 2013, connected payment information from Lemon Wallet directly to a merchant for payment processing.[1][3][4][5]
Services and products
Lemon used OCR technology to store and organize users' information from various cards (IDs, health insurance, credit, debit, rewards, etc.) and receipts.[7][8][9][10] An upgraded version allowed users to monitor bank accounts and includes expanded security features such as credit card balance monitoring, alerts for questionable charges, card expiration reminders, and the ability to cancel and restore cards.[7][11] Lemon also allowed users to store receipt data.[8][12][13] The service also organized expense reports (using receipt data), which could be accessed from the web application or mobile device.[1][4][14][15] This data could also be used to submit expense reports.[13][16][17] A freemium version of the service was available, as well as a paid subscription.[3][13][18] The Lemon application was compatible with iOS, Android, and Windows Phone devices.[1][2][8][12][19][20]
History and product developments
Beta version
The company released the beta version of the service as an expense tracking and management service in July 2011.[1][2][14] It soft-launched at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference's startup alley in September 2011 and officially launched in October 2011.[17][21] In February 2012, the company announced it had reached one million users.[20]
Lemon Wallet App
Lemon received $8 million in a funding round led by Maveron in May 2012.[9][15][22] Other investors in the Series A round included Lightspeed Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, CampVentures, and Social+Capital Partnership.[9][15] The round followed Lemon's release of the Lemon Wallet app, a service designed to store credit, debit, health insurance, and ID card information using the same photo system the company utilized for expense management.[9][15][22] The extended capabilities allowed users to backup everything in their wallet using Lemon's cloud-based, PIN protected database.[10][15] The app's security features include a 256-bit encryption as well as the ability for the user to remote-wipe sensitive information if the mobile device is lost or stolen.[9][10][11]
Beginning in September 2012, Lemon customers could access cards stored in their Lemon account through Apple's Passbook service.[23]
Application upgrade
In May 2013, Lemon announced an upgraded expense reporting tool. The enhancement to the Lemon Wallet granted users the ability to have their receipts and e-receipts processed through lemon.com and saved as a PDF copy and a CSV or XLS format copy to be compatible with other expense software. Lemon CEO Wences Casares has reported that as of May 2013, the digital wallet service is capturing and storing approximately 1,000 new cards every hour.[24]
On December 12, 2013, it was announced that LifeLock, Inc., a provider of identity theft protection services, acquired Lemon.[25]
Security issues
On May 16, 2014, LifeLock, Inc. announced that it had temporarily disabled the mobile application due to a security flaw.[26] Despite there being no evidence that user information had been compromised, LifeLock deleted all data stored by current users.[27] Previously, LifeLock was fined $12 million for "deceptive business practices and for failing to secure sensitive customer data".[28]
References
- Messieh, Nancy (October 5, 2011). "Store your receipts online and keep track of your budget with Lemon". The Next Web. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Van Grove, Jennifer (October 19, 2011). "Lemon Makes Lemonade Out of Your Electronic & Paper Receipts". Mashable. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Konrad, Alex (November 16, 2011). "Receipts are a nightmare. These startups want to help you wake up". Fortune. CNN. Archived from the original on October 1, 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Johnson, Dave (November 30, 2011). "Lemon iPhone app keeps track of your receipts for free". CBS News. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- "Turn Your Unwanted Holiday Gifts Into Treasure". Fox News. January 6, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- "LifeLock Acquires Mobile Wallet Platform Lemon For $42.6 Million, Launches LifeLock Wallet".
- Sande, Steven (May 31, 2013). "Friday Favorite: Lemon Wallet". Tuaw. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Komando, Kim (October 21, 2011). "Track expenses the easy way". USA Today. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Eaton, Kit (June 12, 2012). "Lemon takes aim at digitizing your (Bulging, Paper-stuffed, Back-crippling) wallet". Fast Company. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Duffy, Jill. "Lemon Wallet (for iPhone)". PC Magazine. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Kazmucha, Allyson (May 13, 2013). "Lemon Wallet for iPhone review: Create Passbook cards for your entire wallet and much more". iMore. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Vaknin, Sharon (February 14, 2012). "Three ways your smartphone can lighten up a heavy wallet". CNET. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Takenouchi, Shaun (December 13, 2011). "Lemon: An Easy Way to Track Your Expenses". Appstorm. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Klosowski, Thorin (October 5, 2011). "Lemon Is an Easy to Use and Free Receipt Tracking Tool for Mobile Phones and Browsers". Lifehacker. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Perez, Sarah (June 12, 2012). "Mobile Money Management App Lemon Launches Digital Wallet, Closes $8 Million Series A". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Carnns, Ann (October 25, 2011). "Lemon Makes Digital Copies of Paper Receipts". The New York Times. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Wauters, Robin (October 13, 2011). "Backed By $10M In Funding, Lemon.com Lets You Store, Organize Your Receipts In The Cloud". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Miles, Stephanie (December 2, 2011). "Get an interface lift from Dotvita Lemon – Organized Receipts for Easier Recordkeeping". Appvita. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Johnston, Susan (January 30, 2012). "5 Apps for Organizing Your Expenses at Tax Time". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Kim, Ryan (February 24, 2012). "Receipt tracker Lemon hits 1 million users, adds Mint-like features". GigaOM. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Hardawar, Devindra (September 13, 2011). "Tired of keeping track of receipts? Lemon.com can help". VentureBeat. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Kolodny, Lora (June 12, 2012). "Lemon Aims to Squeeze More Juice from E-Wallets". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Wolfe, Daniel (December 10, 2012). "Square, Lemon Add Support for Apple's Passbook Wallet". PaymentsSource. Archived from the original on December 14, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- Perez, Sarah (May 30, 2013). "Lemon's Mobile Wallet Gets More Useful With New Expense Reporting Service; Support For Transactions Is Next". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- LifeLock | Press Room | Leading Identity Theft Protection Company LifeLock Acquires Mobile Wallet Innovator Lemon, Inc
- Davis, Todd (May 16, 2014). "An Important Update About LifeLock Wallet". LifeLockUnlocked. LifeLock, Inc. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
- Bryant, Martin (2014-05-17). "LifeLock Wallet Pulled from App Stores, User Data Deleted". The Next Web. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
- Zetter, Kim (2010-03-09). "Lifelock Dinged $12 Million for Deceptive Business Practices". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2019-08-20.