Companies Struggle to Popularize Mobile Money
Various companies are grappling with the challenge to develop compelling reasons for consumers to use mobile payment technology. The GSM Association’s Reed Peterson says in-store smartphone payments require “a lot of things to align,” including equipping the phone with NFC hardware and software, deploying the right equipment and training in the store, the phone company supporting the transaction, and payment processors and banks having a stake in it. Peterson says although some of these components have been established, the network of commercial pacts that supports these payments requires expansion, while consumer demand remains lukewarm. The popularity of iPhones among consumers is an impediment to NFC adoption because Apple has not yet embedded NFC into any of its smartphones. Another flashpoint for NFC revolves around who controls the secure element in phones, with the GSMA supporting the element’s installation in the subscriber identity module rather than in the phone itself. Visa, Google, and phone companies are debating over who controls the secure element, while PayPal advocates avoiding NFC altogether.
From “Companies Struggle to Popularize Mobile Money”
Associated Press (03/01/13) Svensson, Peter