Thursday, July 06, 2006

Pay by Mobile Phone

Mobiletrax takes a look at the Infrastructure and International Issues in Mobile Payments. The writter asks if the US is prepared to adopt an International Standard that they have not designed for EMV and contactless cards.

It is interesting to see how the US is developing. In one paragraph they talk about how the economics of card payments are changing as the number of transactions >$25 increases. Whilst here in Europe the attempt to pay for a coffee with anything other than cash can result in complaints by others waiting in line to get served.

I wonder how soon his predictions come true in the Far East and Europe compared with the US and Africa? The more work I do on Mobile Payments the more important is the social attitude to credit. Those countries that have a cash economy are the ones that I think will be the success stories rather than those that are heavy users of Credit cards.