GSMA makes a move to bring Pay-Buy-Mobile handsets
The GSMA has asked handset manufacturers to incorporate NFC functionality into mobile handsets so that consumers can get the benefit of mobile payment services as soon as possible. Chief Marketing Officer, Michael O’Hara, suggested that handset manufacturers must make such phones available in the market by the middle of next year. This will require device manufacturers to make sure that the vast majority of commercially available handsets incorporate the Single Wire Protocol (SWP) and Near Field Communications (NFC) features as standard,†said GSMA’s CEO Rob Conway.
A number of operator pilots have demonstrated that consumers can safely use the technology. Across eight countries trials have been run involving nine mobile operators. Further pilots are planned across 14 countries by 15 mobile operators. According to a report, it is forecasted that mobile money transfer and NFC transactions may account for 50 percent of the global mobile payment market by 2013. The GSMA has also advised phone makers to adopt the Single Wire Protocol standard, which involves a direct connection between an embedded NFC chipset and a SIM card. In Japan, making payments through mobile is very popular, where carrier NTT DoCoMo dominates the market.
