Make your payment with SmartPhone

Handsets will soon be able to connect to other gadgets or make payments with a tap.

No longer having to carry all of the cards you currently carry in your wallet for the services are provided via your mobile phone. You can securely pay your bills or make purchases at participating retail outlets using your mobile phone. Your mobile phone can be linked to your credit cards, bank accounts and/or your mobile phone bill. Loyalty cards, coupons, retail gift cards, all can be stored in your mobile phone. The mobile phone can even replace a key pass and membership card. You can also view your bank statements, checks or credit card slips, loyalty points, balance on gift cards, all on your mobile phone.

Several smart phone manufacturers are developing plans to launch U.S. handsets that can connect to other devices when tapped together, or act as electronic wallets by instantly paying for goods when waved over a reader.

The technology to make this possible- Near Field Communications (NFC)-is a step beyond the contactless radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology used in many transit systems or security access cards for buildings. NFC uses the same high-frequency radio waves as RFID and can make a connection over a distance of up to around 10 meters. It is also compatible with existing RFID systems. But NFC devices can both send and receive data-something that will enable many new applications when coupled with the computational power of a smart phone.

The new service, to be launched by the December 2010, will use technology developed by DigiMo to enable Israeli consumers to make payments at the point-of-sale with their mobile phone using their choice of an NFC phone, a sticker attached to their existing phone or a 2D barcode. Israeli mobile commerce, payments and marketing specialist DigiMo Group has announced it has added support for NFC phones and stickers to its barcode-based mobile payments system.

The system is believed to be the first in the world to allow payments to be made at the point-of-sale using either near field communication or mobile barcodes and has been developed at the request of one of Israel's largest banks.

Customers will need a 2.5G or 3G phone in order to make payments using the mobile barcode option, while other customers will be able to pick up an NFC sticker from their bank branch.

Merchants with an existing barcode reader will not need to install any new hardware in order to accept payments via mobile barcode while those without a barcode reader, and those wishing to support NFC payments will be able to install a simple NFC reader that connects directly to their electronic cash register. Some twenty retail chains and around fifty independent retailers will accept the new payments solution from day one.

The bank then plans to take the system national, once the first 30,000 stickers have been distributed and the system is fully up and running.

There are two major advantages to the solution. The first is that "full coverage can be achieved with minimum investment in infrastructure. In the barcoded market no investment is required at all. In other places, NFC readers will be installed to support the service launch as well as any future needs." The second advantage is that "customers with older phones that do not contain an integral NFC device can also be part of the target audience to use the new payment service and enjoy all the benefits of mobile payment, thanks to an add-on attached to their cell phone."

89% of young consumers willing to pay for mobile wallet services

A study conducted by mobile wallet solution provider Alcatel-Lucent with members of its Youth Lab, a group of teenagers and young adults from ten countries around the world, has found that 89% of the participants would be willing to pay a monthly fee to get a mobile wallet service.

226 members of the Youth Lab from Spain, Brazil, France, the US, the UK, China, Mexico, Germany, Italy and Japan took part in the study, which also found that:

The option to 'Buy a movie ticket without needing to wait in line' was the most appealing to respondents.

75% of respondents were interested in 'location based coupons' and 'profile based coupons'.

More than 85% of participants were interested in checking their wallet balance and transaction history in real time, paying for public transport with their mobile phone and receiving electronic tickets