MOBILE or M-COMMERCE COMES OF AGE ?


What is mobile commerce you may well ask?   Well mobile payments comprise two categories – 1) payments for digital (virtual) goods usually done online and 2)  payments for physical goods usually done at a POS.   The latter usually being of larger transaction value.   So  when will we use our mobiles (in any real number) to make these day to day payments and also use them for online banking ?    My view is that this will be driven by both;  1) the adoption of  technologies like NFC by the handset manufacturers and the POS manufacturers and the merchants;  and 2)  the acceptance by users of these new technologies.    I suspect that the latter will take longer  - as people are naturally cautious about adopting new  technologies particularly when money is involved.

The major handset manufacturers have started building NFC chips into their handsets as the GSMA have finalized the specification for NFC on GSM phones.   Apple recently ‘leaked’ the news that the iPhone 5 will be NFC enabled and all the big names – Samsung/Nokia/Motorola/Ericsson/ZTE have announced NFC phones for launch this year.  Google are very optimistic about the prospects for mobile commerce. (http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/google-ceo-says-nfc-mobile-payments-will-prove-profitable-13258/) 

 Users will take a bit longer to get used to scanning their phones (not Oyster cards) at the readers on the Underground or at retail checkouts.    It is mainstream in Japan and will become the same in the rest of the World. (http://www.nma.co.uk/news/japan-leads-global-mobile-commerce-market/3023422.article)   The mobile device has become  (and will increasingly continue to become) the medium where we consume advertising now more focused and bespoke to our individual requirements.   Gaming manufacturers recognise the power of the mobile platform for their products and with the increasing trend towards social gaming have become another very important commerce layer on the mobile. 

Security is an issue.   Hackers have recognized that the adoption of mobile commerce is growing rapidly and they have turned their attention to this platform for the spread of malware, ID theft and online fraud.    However this will be a much bigger challenge for them because of the diversity of platforms (unlike in the desk/laptop world where 75% of Operating Systems are Microsoft).    Anti-virus software will be less important than appropriate authentication solutions which will enable trusted transactions to take place.    These solutions will of necessity need to be light weight and not require the user to interface with any additional physical devices like dongles/ card readers/ USB keys etc which proliferate in the desktop world.

Of course mobiles will be used for more than just banking – remittances, money transfer and voucher redemptions will become mainstream.   Expect smart-phones to get even smarter and to form a greater and greater proportion of all phones as the old ones die out and are replaced.   By 2014 50% of mobile phone users will be using their phones to make payments according to Juniper – so the trend is strong and it is here to stay.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The End of Passwords

Finally it seems … the penny has dropped.   Passwords are a poor substitute for real online security.   There is more and more ‘chatter’ about it.    Robin Henry writing in the Sunday Times on New Years Day talks of the end of ‘password hell’ invoking solutions in the pipeline from the Web Gods – Apple and Google.  The talk is of new biometric solutions such as facial and hand movement recognition.  Even IBM is talking this way.  ( http://www.forbes.com/sites/thestreet/2011/12/20/ibms-tech-predictions-for-the-next-5-years/ )  I agree with the notion that passwords are a dying breed but not that biometrics will become vogue.   They are fraught with problems of their own such as reliability, accuracy and the need for referencing of data-bases ( fail !) .    Why are passwords defunct?   Basically they are difficult to remember and they are easy to steal.    The solutions needed are those that require no cognitive load for the user ( the most unreliable participant in this enterprise
Read more

WIKILEAKS - the fuss?

Why all the fuss ? Why the ‘outrage’ at this ‘threat to national security’ ?   Are we really worried that nuclear war is going to break out because of these ‘dirty’ secrets getting out.  As if the North Koreans are going to up the ante any more than their mock charge of last week because of the abuse and scorn heaped upon them by US Diplomats.  ? !    Come on. To me the irony of this bluster is that it is (largely) from the right wing establishment in the US - calling it treason!     Any party that parades a half wit like Palin as a presidential hopeful hardly holds any moral high ground when it comes to protecting the USA.   Her appointment as the ‘leader of the free World’ will be enough to send any level headed American ( let alone any one of their Allies ) into a panicky tailspin at the thought of what she may stumble into ( by accident or design) . So how did these documents get out there?   Poor security.  Plain and simple.   If the US is so worried about this incident su
Read more

HSBC EMBRACES OLD TECHNOLOGY IN ITS BATTLE AGAINST HACKERS

 If you live in the UK and are somehow involved in the business world and exposed to media you could not help but have noticed the extensive advertising campaign that HSBC has been running on its new (sic) ‘security device’ for online banking - Secure Key.    ( I was tempted to refer to them as  ‘ large UK bank’  - but it is so obvious who it is – no point in pretending. ) A lot of money has been thrown at this campaign – I would guess millions.  ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx0Z5CiQMIw )   Full page spreads in large circulation newspapers cost big bucks not to mention prime time TV slots.   So here you have the worlds largest retail bank splashing millions on advertising and even more on a ‘cool’ little device that looks like a mini-calculator  - but basically a technology that has been around for about a decade.   This will be rolled out to 4m retail customers worldwide at a reported cost of up to £50 per pop! ( http://www.bankingtech.com/bankingtech/article.do?articleid=200002
Read more