This publication seeks to summarise current development trends, user demands, cost and pricing issues, technology and business trends as well as official views on payment developments. It endeavours to identify the most important factors affecting future payment habits for the period post-2010.

Based on the analysis, technological developments will support completely integrated electronic payments processed in real time. The mobile phone seems likely to become an important device for initiation and acceptance of payments. The information conveyed as
part of a payment transaction will be extended to encompass all information necessary for further and later use (for example, ordering and invoicing data). However, the prevailing practice of widespread (cross-)subsidisation makes it hard for end-users to perceive the actual cost differences between alternative means of payment, thus delaying the adoption of more efficient payment habits. The current market structures also contain strong barriers to competition in the form of monopoly, oligopoly or service provider cooperation. Official measures by authorities to increase competition along the lines of modern policies for other network industries would speed up developments in payment services as well.

“Our survey revealed a number of important attitudes toward contactless payments among US consumers,” says principal analyst Jonathan Collins. “The desire for a single and separate account on NFC handsets, for example, provides a heads-up to existing credit and debit card suppliers that new or separate products may be required to keep customers as they move to mobile payments. Furthermore, it shows potential for new and specialized mobile payment providers to step in, as users turn to NFC-enabled payments.”

Indian workers in other countries will soon be able to send money, less than $100, to their family back home using a mobile phone.

Bharti Airtel and Western Union have decided to jointly develop and pilot a mobile money transfer service in the country. The move is part of a global initiative by the GSM Association wherein 35 mobile operators spread across 100 countries have taken a commitment to enable the world’s 200 million international migrant workers to easily and securely send remittances to their dependents.

Como funciona o M-Cash do HSBC ?
Com o M-Cash do HSBC, você pode pagar suas compras nos estabelecimentos credenciados, informando apenas o número do seu celular. Em instantes, você recebe uma ligação para confirmar a compra e sua senha pessoal, exclusiva para este serviço. Após a confirmação, o valor da compra é imediatamente debitado em sua Conta Corrente, sem tarifas adicionais.

Google in February 2006 filed a patent with the US Patent office describing a text message system, also referred to as “GPay” throughout the document. The patent was published last Thursday, describing an online payment system reminiscent of PayPal and Google Checkout, but mobile-enabled. The abstract says the patent includes:

• A server receiving an SMS from a payer containing a payment request for a specific amount (sent by some independent device),
• parsing the SMS to find out what value the payer account should be debited for, and
• crediting the payee account (independent of the server system) with that specified amount.

The initial version of the mobile payment platform launched on Monday offers contactless mobile payment, personalization over mobile telephony networks, coupons and direct marketing. Subsequent versions of the platform, to be made available later in the year, will include remote payment -- also using mobile telephony networks -- and person-to-person payment.

Once you enter your cell phone number in your PayPal account and set up a mobile PIN (separate from your account password), PayPal's voice robot calls your phone on the spot and asks you to verify the PIN. Once the PIN's matched, your phone is PayPal-enabled.

Then, to send someone else's phone $5.50 in cash, text message PAYPAL (729725) the message send 5.50 to 7185551212 where the recipient's phone number is (718) 555-1212.

According to government data, 80 percent of e-commerce by teen-agers aged 15-19 was done on cellphones in 2005.

[...] "One of the changes that came with the 3G services is an increase in flat-fee users," said Jun Hasebe, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research. "Impulse shopping accounts for most of the purchases done on mobile phones, and that would not usually happen unless users are on flat fee-based services."

[...] One of the issues that may hold back those could-be shoppers from using mobile phones is safety. Many Japanese consumers still fear punching in their credit card numbers online or on cell phones.

More than half of e-commerce sales in Japan were paid with cash rather than electronically in 2005, while 13 percent were settled with credit cards, government data shows.