In 2008 there will be further trials of mobile payments around the world, including a major European pilot being conducted by O2 in the UK using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology on mobile phones.In addition to O2, there are numerous European mobile network operators working to develop NFC applications, including Bouygues Telecom, KPN, Mobilkom Austria, Orange, SFR, SK Telecom, Telefonica Móviles España, Telenor, TeliaSonera, TIM, Vodafone, Polkomtel, Elisa and 3.

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Mobile commerce is potentially important for a wide range of industries, including telecommunications, IT, finance, retail and the media, as well as for end-users. It will work best in those areas where it can emphasise the core virtue of mobile networks – convenience.

Japan and Korea were one of the first to offer low-cost models to content providers, and the mobile content market is flourishing in those markets. Most of the proceeds flow to the content providers yet, in the rest of the world, the mobile operators are adamant that they want to have a much larger share of the spoils. Strategy Analytics estimated that Japanese consumers made contactless payments worth $900 million using their mobiles in 2006, including prepaid travel tickets. This can be partly attributed to Sony’s FeliCa contactless payments standard that has been adopted by banks and mobile phones companies.

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