Charge It to My Cell Phone
Imagine doing something completely outlandish like shopping without money or credit cards—and using your cell phone to pay for what you buy. Thanks to “near field” technology—the thing that makes a MasterCard Paypass work—in the next few years it might become a reality. Small trials are taking place in cities across the US, but cell phone manufacturers, financial institutions, and retail stores must all work together in order for this technology to be made available more broadly.
That’s not to say that near field technology isn’t being used more extensively in other countries. In Japan, for example, you can purchase anything with the swipe of a cell phone, even candy at a vending machine. Several separate accounts can be held on a SIM card or MicroSD card simultaneously, and the transaction takes place when the cell phone is waved over the reader. It’s easy to see how the technology would make sense to credit card companies—they’d never have to print a new card again.
Though cell phones with near field technology might take off in the United States, don’t start cutting up your plastic quite yet. Before it can be widely accepted, cell phone manufacturers, financial institutions, and retail stores must all work together to determine a set of standards. In Japan, developing standards was easier, since there was one significant carrier that had influence with both financial institutions and cell phone manufacturers.
Some industry analysts say near field technology in cell phones could pop be as soon as 2012, but at least by 2014.
By meredithregan
Monday, 15 March, 2010at8:45
I would like to ask you whether this technology can be viewed as a potential threat to traditional telephone companies?what are the counterstrategies that traditional telephone companies adopt to prepare for this technology?what are the regulatory issues due to this type of technology?