Mobile Payments - Will they work?

[Scottish Business Owner]

Seeing alot of stuff on the net about 2011 being the start of Mobile Payment and a technology called NFC (Near Field Communications). Linked to one article below which is typical of what i'm seeing.

Everything Everywhere to introduce mobile payments

What do you think of the whole mobile payments concept? Are you in favour or against? Good to hear some thoughts

 

[Mike Lewis]

An interesting subject, . I've seen quite a lot about it in the press recently.

You ask if it will work. In the technical sense, it is already working. NFC (Near Field Communications) is in everyday use as a payment medium in Japan and Korea, and is also used for public transport in several other places. The technology itself isn't in doubt.

In fact, I received a new credit card the other day, and I see that it is NFC-enabled. (I didn't ask for it. It was just there by default.)

But whether it will work in the sense of whether people will accept it, that's more difficult. It's one thing to use an NFC credit card or season ticket, but I'm not so sure about using a mobile phone for making payments.

I suppose most people will accept it, but personally I'd worry that it's one more thing that can go wrong - one more case of relying on technology to run our lives.

Unlike most people, I don't always carry a phone around with me - nor do I want to. I'd worry that the phone might not work for some reason, or the battery might be flat. Then there's the financial implications: the need to manage the actual payments (by direct debit, or whatever); safeguarding against fraud; cancelling the service if your phone is stolen; all that sort of thing.

So, personally, I would be resistant to using it. It just makes life more complicated, for no benefit in return.

But no doubt I'm in the minority, and in a few years time it will be a normal part of our lives.

It will be interesting to hear what other forum members think.

Mike

 

[stugster]

Mike,

I haven't done much research on it, but is NFC just an RFID chip in the card?

 

[Mike Lewis]

Stuart,

I haven't done much research either, but my understanding is that NFC is a subset (or extension?) of RFID. It works with a more narrowly-defined bandwidth range, and over shorter distances.

I don't think it's true to say that NFC is an RFID "chip". It's more like a standard, which might be implemented as a chip on a card, or by other means. The stuff I've read about it talks about it being intended mainly for embedding in mobile phones (as per 's original post),but it's definitely being used for contactless credit cards as well.

It's worth mentioning that there's some controversy over its use in credit cards. People who have received NFC-enabled cards without requesting them (as I have) are worried that if the card is stolen, it will be easy for the thief to use it to make purchases, which is true. But that's got nothing to do with NFC. Rather, it's because you don't need to enter a PIN number to complete the purchase. I suppose the answer to that is that it's up to the credit card company to limit its use for small purchases, so you won't be much out of pocket.

It will be interesting to see how things develop.

Mike

 

[stugster]

Visa brings contactless payments to Euro iPhones, dongle required for now -- Engadget

 

[Adventurelife]

They will work that is a given. Why ? It is only technology and it already exists. Vested interests from business will ensure the the tech gets to market and quick.

Totally in support to me it make things easier not more complicated.

Remember when you had to go into the bank for money? I actually have only ever been in a bank about 6 times in the last 8 years.

Never use the cash lines much now as pay by card then clear balances online. Supermarkets etc give cash back if you need cash

Having a phone that can do all tasks just makes me more productive so I am am all for it.

 

[BioOutsource]

Fortunately to add something in discussion I'm conducting a research on mobile apps and stuff and have also studied about NFC technology. Its hot topic out there and companies are striving to make the mobile phone as NFC compatible. and if I remember correctly, by 2012 most of the New Smartphones will be NFC enabled.

 

[Pawel]

Personally I hope that one day NFC will replace car keys!!

As for the security - I thought NFC payments will be PIN-protected anyway?

 

[Mike Lewis]

As for the security - I thought NFC payments will be PIN-protected anyway?

Not necessarily. It's up to the provider. For example, Barclaycard now don't requre a PIN for NFC payments under a certain amount (£15, I think). This is one of the reasons for the controversy that I mentioned in my previous post.

Regarding car keys, your wish may come true. I've heard suggestions that mobile phones and NFC might be used as a substitute for house keys, so why not car keys.

Mike

 

[Scottish Business Owner]

The whole mobile payments area is fascinating and I guess like anything else it's success will be determined by how secure it is and whether you can convince people to adopt it. You will always get the early adopters with a technology like this but the acid test like most things is to get it past this stage and get mass market acceptance. I now have my iPhone and iPad controlling all the music around my house and i'm currently looking at doing the same with my TV which I guess is all part of this magic word convergence!

I would totally find being able to pay by phone for things like train tickets etc a huge plus point and i will definately be one of these early adopters