Mobile Payment
Encyclopedia
Mobile financial services, also referred to as mobile money, mobile payment
Mobile Payment
Mobile financial services, also referred to as mobile money, mobile payment, mobile banking, mobile money transfer and mobile wallet generally refer to payment services operated under financial regulation and performed from or via a mobile device....

, mobile banking
Mobile Banking
Mobile banking is a term used for performing balance checks, account transactions, payments, credit applications and other banking transactions through a mobile device such as a mobile phone or Personal Digital Assistant . The earliest mobile banking services were offered over SMS...

, mobile money transfer
Money transfer
Money transfer generally refers to one of the following cashless modes of payment or payment systems:*Wire transfer, an international expedited bank-to-bank funds transfer*Electronic funds transfer, an umbrella term mostly used for bank card-based payments...

 and mobile wallet generally refer to payment services operated under financial regulation
Financial regulation
Financial regulation is a form of regulation or supervision, which subjects financial institutions to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, aiming to maintain the integrity of the financial system...

 and performed from or via a mobile device.

Although financial institutions and credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...

 companies have implemented solutions that provide mobile access to their services, in 2011, a number of mobile communication companies, such as mobile network operators, major telecommunications infrastructure
Telecommunications network
A telecommunications network is a collection of terminals, links and nodes which connect together to enable telecommunication between users of the terminals. Networks may use circuit switching or message switching. Each terminal in the network must have a unique address so messages or connections...

 and handset
Handset
On a telephone, the handset is a device the user holds to the ear to hear the audio sound. Modern-day handsets usually contain the phone's microphone as well, but in early telephones the microphone was mounted directly on the telephone itself, which often was attached to a wall at a convenient...

 multinationals such as Ericsson
Ericsson
Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...

 and Internet companies such as Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

 announced their entrance to mobile payments.

Mobile payment is an alternative payment method. Instead of paying with cash, cheque or credit cards, a consumer can use a mobile phone to pay for a wide range of services and digital or hard goods such as:
  • Music, videos, ringtones, online game subscription or items, wallpapers and other digital goods.
  • Transportation fare (bus, subway or train), parking meters and other services
  • Books, magazines, tickets and other hard goods.


There are four primary models for mobile payments:
  • Premium SMS based transactional payments
  • Direct Mobile Billing
  • Mobile web payments (WAP
    Wireless Application Protocol
    Wireless Application Protocol is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network.A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that uses the protocol.Before the introduction of WAP, mobile service providers had limited opportunities to offer...

    )
  • Contactless NFC (Near Field Communication)
    Near Field Communication
    Near field communication, or NFC, allows for simplified transactions, data exchange, and wireless connections between two devices in proximity to each other, usually by no more than a few centimeters. It is expected to become a widely used system for making payments by smartphone in the United States...


Additionally there is a new emerging model from Haiti: direct carrier/bank co-operation.

Mobile payment is being adopted all over the world in different ways . Combined market for all types of mobile payments is expected to reach more than $600B globally by 2013, which will be the double of the current figure, while mobile payment market for goods and services, excluding contactless NFC transactions and money transfers, is expected to exceed $300B globally by 2013.

Some mobile payment solutions are also used in developing countries
Developing country
A developing country, also known as a less-developed country, is a nation with a low level of material well-being. Since no single definition of the term developing country is recognized internationally, the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries...

 for micropayment
Micropayment
A micropayment is a financial transaction involving a very small sum of money and usually one that occurs online. PayPal defines a micropayment as a transaction of less than 12 USD while Visa prefers transactions under 20 Australian dollars, and though micropayments were originally envisioned to...

s.

Premium SMS/USSD based transactional payments

The consumer sends a payment request via an SMS text message or an USSD to a short code
Short code
Short codes are special telephone numbers, significantly shorter than full telephone numbers, that can be used to address SMS and MMS messages from certain service provider's mobile phones or fixed phones...

 and a premium charge is applied to their phone bill or their online wallet. The merchant involved is informed of the payment success and can then release the paid for goods.

Since a trusted delivery address has typically not been given these goods are most frequently digital with the merchant replying using a Multimedia Messaging Service
Multimedia Messaging Service
Multimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones. It extends the core SMS capability that allowed exchange of text messages only up to 160 characters in length.The most popular use is to send photographs from...

 to deliver the purchased music, ringtones, wallpapers etc.

A Multimedia Messaging Service
Multimedia Messaging Service
Multimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones. It extends the core SMS capability that allowed exchange of text messages only up to 160 characters in length.The most popular use is to send photographs from...

 can also deliver barcodes which can then be scanned for confirmation of payment by a merchant. This is used as an electronic ticket for access to cinemas and events or to collect hard goods.

Transactional payments have been popular in Asia and Europe but are now being overtaken by other mobile payment methods such as mobile web
Mobile Web
The Mobile Web refers to the use of Internet-connected applications, or browser-based access to the Internet from a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet computer, connected to a wireless network....

 payments (WAP
Wireless Application Protocol
Wireless Application Protocol is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network.A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that uses the protocol.Before the introduction of WAP, mobile service providers had limited opportunities to offer...

), mobile payment client (Java ME, Android...) and Direct Mobile Billing for a number of reasons:
  1. Poor reliability - transactional payments can easily fail as messages get lost.
  2. Slow speed - sending messages can be slow and it can take hours for a merchant to get receipt of payment. Consumers do not want to be kept waiting more than a few seconds.
  3. Security - The SMS/USSD encryption ends in the radio interface, then the message is a plaintext.
  4. High cost - There are many high costs associated with this method of payment. The cost of setting up short codes and paying for the delivery of media via a Multimedia Messaging Service
    Multimedia Messaging Service
    Multimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones. It extends the core SMS capability that allowed exchange of text messages only up to 160 characters in length.The most popular use is to send photographs from...

     and the resulting customer support costs to account for the number of messages that get lost or are delayed.
  5. Low payout rates - operators also see high costs in running and supporting transactional payments which results in payout rates to the merchant being as low as 30%. Usually around 50%
  6. Low follow-on sales - once the payment message has been sent and the goods received there is little else the consumer can do. It is difficult for them to remember where something was purchased or how to buy it again. This also makes it difficult to tell a friend.


Some Mobile Payment services accept Premium SMS payments. Here is the typical end user payment process:

1. User sends SMS with Keyword and unique number to a Premium Short Code
Short code
Short codes are special telephone numbers, significantly shorter than full telephone numbers, that can be used to address SMS and MMS messages from certain service provider's mobile phones or fixed phones...

.

2. User receives a PIN (User billed via the short code on receipt of the PIN)

3. Finally user enters PIN to get access to content or services.

Direct Mobile Billing

The consumer uses the mobile billing option during checkout at an e-commerce site—such as an online gaming site—to make a payment. After two-factor authentication
Two-factor authentication
Two-factor authentication is an approach to authentication which requires the presentation of two different kinds of evidence that someone is who they say they are. It is a part of the broader family of multi-factor authentication, which is a defense in depth approach to security...

 involving a PIN and One-Time-Password, the consumer's mobile account is charged for the purchase. It is a true alternative payment method that does not require the use of credit/debit cards or pre-registration at an online payment solution such as PayPal, thus bypassing banks and credit card companies altogether. This type of mobile payment method, which is extremely prevalent and popular in Asia, provides the following benefits:
  1. Security - Two-factor authentication and a risk management engine prevents fraud.
  2. Convenience - No pre-registration and no new mobile software is required.
  3. Easy - It's just another option during the checkout process.
  4. Fast - Most transactions are completed in less than 10 seconds.
  5. Proven - 70% of all digital content purchased online in some parts of Asia uses the Direct Mobile Billing method

Mobile web payments (WAP)

The consumer uses web pages displayed or additional applications downloaded and installed on the mobile phone to make a payment. It uses WAP
Wireless Application Protocol
Wireless Application Protocol is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network.A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that uses the protocol.Before the introduction of WAP, mobile service providers had limited opportunities to offer...

 (Wireless Application Protocol) as underlying technology and thus inherits all the advantages and disadvantages of WAP
Wireless Application Protocol
Wireless Application Protocol is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network.A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that uses the protocol.Before the introduction of WAP, mobile service providers had limited opportunities to offer...

. However, using a familiar web payment model gives a number of proven benefits:
  1. Follow-on sales where the mobile web payment can lead back to a store or to other goods the consumer may like. These pages have a URL and can be bookmarked making it easy to re-visit or share with friends.
  2. High customer satisfaction from quick and predictable payments
  3. Ease of use from a familiar set of online payment pages


However, unless the mobile account is directly charged through a mobile network operator, the use of a credit/debit card or pre-registration at online payment solution such as PayPal is still required just as in a desktop environment.

Mobile web payment methods are now being mandated by a number of mobile network operators.

A number of different actual payment mechanisms can be used behind a consistent set of web pages.

Direct operator billing

A direct connection to the operator billing platform requires integration with the operator, but provides a number of benefits:
  1. Simplicity - the operators already have a billing relationship with the consumers, the payment will be added to their bill.
  2. Instantaneous payments giving the highest customer satisfaction
  3. Accurate responses showing success and reasons for failure (no money for example)
  4. Security to protect payment details and consumer identity
  5. Best conversion rates from a single click-to-buy and no need to enter any further payment details.
  6. Reduced customer support costs for merchants since customers will complain to the operator.


It has however a drawback, the payout rate will be much lower than with other payment providers. Examples from a popular provider :
  • 92% with Paypal
  • 85 to 86% with Credit Card
  • 45 to 91.7% with Operator billing in the US, UK and different smaller European countries, but usually around 60%

Direct operator billing is also known as Mobile content billing or Wap billing.

Credit Card

A simple mobile web payment system can also include a credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...

 payment flow allowing a consumer to enter their card details to make purchases. This process is familiar but any entry of details on a mobile phone is known to reduce the success rate (conversion) of payments.

In addition, if the payment vendor can automatically and securely identify customers then card details can be recalled for future purchases turning credit card payments into simple single click-to-buy giving higher conversion rates for additional purchases.

Online Wallets

Online companies like PayPal
PayPal
PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....

, Amazon Payments
Amazon Payments
Amazon Payments, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.com that provides a means to process transactions online. Launched in 2006, Amazon Payments uses the consumer base of Amazon.com and focuses on giving users the same checkout experience available on Amazon.com.Amazon Payments has several...

 and Google Checkout
Google Checkout
Google Checkout is an online payment processing service provided by Google aimed at simplifying the process of paying for online purchases. Users store their credit or debit card and shipping information in their Google Account, so that they can purchase at participating stores by clicking an...

 also have mobile options. Here is the process :

First Payment
  • User registers, inputs their phone number, the provider sends them an SMS with a PIN
  • User enters the received PIN, authenticating the number.
  • User inputs their credit card info (or another payment method) if necessary. (Not necessary if account already existing) and validates payments


Subsequent payments
  • The user re enters their PIN to authenticate


Requesting a PIN is known to lower the success rate (conversion) for payments.
These systems can be integrated with directly or can be combined with operator and credit card payments through a unified mobile web payment platform.

Contactless Near Field Communication

Near Field Communication
Near Field Communication
Near field communication, or NFC, allows for simplified transactions, data exchange, and wireless connections between two devices in proximity to each other, usually by no more than a few centimeters. It is expected to become a widely used system for making payments by smartphone in the United States...

 (NFC) is used mostly in paying for purchases made in physical stores or transportation services. A consumer using a special mobile phone equipped with a smartcard waves his/her phone near a reader module. Most transactions do not require authentication, but some require authentication using PIN, before transaction is completed. The payment could be deducted from a pre-paid account or charged to a mobile or bank account directly.

Mobile payment method via NFC faces significant challenges for wide and fast adoption, due to lack of supporting infrastructure, complex ecosystem of stakeholders, and standards. Some phone manufacturers and banks, however, are enthusiastic.

NFC vendors in Japan are closely related to mass-transit networks, like the Mobile Suica
Mobile Suica
is a service for Osaifu Keitai mobile phones, first launched on January 28, 2006 by NTT DoCoMo and au in Japan, and now also offered by SoftBank Mobile and Willcom. Suica is a prepaid rechargeable contactless smart card mainly used to pay for fares on the JR East railway network.Just like...

 used on the JR East
East Japan Railway Company
is the largest passenger railway company in the world and one of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo....

 rail network. Osaifu-Keitai
Osaifu-Keitai
, literally meaning "Wallet Mobile", is a trademark of NTT DoCoMo, which developed the system. It refers to mobile phones that integrate Sony's Mobile FeliCa ICs, as well as to services provided by applications on these phones....

 system, used for Mobile Suica and many others including Edy
Edy
Edy provided by bitWallet, Inc. in Japan is a prepaid rechargeable contactless smart card. It uses Sony's FeliCa technology, also used by the competing Suica/Pasmo cards by JR East. While the name derives from euro, dollar, and yen, it works with yen only.On April 18, 2006, Intel announced a five...

 and nanaco
Nanaco
nanaco is a prepaid and rechargeable contactless electronic money card used in 7 Eleven convenience stores in Japan.Supplied by IY Card Service Co., a subsidiary of Seven & I Holdings Co., nanaco is available as nanaco card and nanaco mobile .The Nanaco format also features a postpay...

, has become the de-facto standard method for mobile payments in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Its core technology, Mobile FeliCa IC, is partially owned by Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

, NTT DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo
is the predominant mobile phone operator in Japan. The name is officially an abbreviation of the phrase, "do communications over the mobile network", and is also from a compound word dokomo, meaning "everywhere" in Japanese. Docomo provides phone, video phone , i-mode , and mail services...

 and JR East. Mobile FeliCa utilize Sony's FeliCa
FeliCa
FeliCa is a contactless RFID smart card system from Sony in Japan, primarily used in electronic money cards. The name stands for Felicity Card...

 technology, which itself is the de-facto standard for contactless smart card
Smart card
A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...

s in the country.

Other NFC vendors mostly in Europe use contactless payment
Contactless payment
Contactless payment systems are credit cards and debit cards, key fobs, smartcards or other devices which use RFID for making secure payments. The embedded chip and antenna enable consumers to wave their card or fob over a reader at the point of sale. Some suppliers claim that transactions can be...

 over mobile phones to pay for on- and off-street parking in specially demarcated areas. Parking wardens may enforce the parkings by license plate, transponder tags or barcode
Barcode
A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data, which shows data about the object to which it attaches. Originally barcodes represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or 1 dimensional . Later they evolved into rectangles,...

 stickers. First conceptualized in the 1990s, the technology has seen commercial use in this century in both Scandinavia and Estonia. End users benefit from the convenience of being able to pay for parking from the comfort of their car with their mobile phone, and parking operators are not obliged to invest in either existing or new street-based parking infrastructures. Parking wardens maintain order in these systems by license plate, transponder tags or barcode stickers or they read a digital display in the same way as they read a pay and display receipt.

Other vendors use a combination of both NFC and a barcode on the mobile device for mobile payment, for example, Cimbal
Cimbal
Cimbal Inc. is an independent software vendor located in San Francisco, USA. It develops and markets the mobile payment and promotion solution Cimbal which allows users in the United States to make and accept secure electronic payments through mobile devices and to receive targeted merchant and...

 or DigiMo, making this technique attractive at the point of sale
Point of sale
Point of sale or checkout is the location where a transaction occurs...

 because many mobile devices in the market do not yet support NFC.

Direct carrier/bank co-operation

In the T-Cash model the mobile phone and the phone carrier is the front end interface to the consumers. The consumers can purchase goods, transfer money to peer, cash-out, and cash-in. A 'mini wallet' account can be opened as simply as entering *700# on the mobile phone, presummably by depositing money at a participating local merchant and the mobile phone number. Presummably other transactions are similarly accomplished by entering special codes and the phone number of the other party on the consumer's mobile phone.

Juggling payment methods, operators and countries

All operators and countries have different rules and regulations for mobile payments. Content classified as "U" (universal) rated in Europe may be classified as "R" (Restricted) in the USA. These rules affect which payment methods can be used for any given transaction.

Consumer versus merchant initiated

Payments can be initiated by both the consumer or the merchant, although consumer payment is becoming the most common since it suits the personal nature of mobile devices.
  1. Consumer focused - The consumer chooses to make a mobile payment. They interact with the payment server using their mobile device to authenticate and authorize the payment. They are subsequently presented with status showing confirmation of the successful transaction or failure with a reason. Extensions to this include Near Field Communications or Contactless Payment options using additional hardware built into the mobile phone.
  2. Merchant focused - This is similar to the consumer focused scenario, however the transaction is entered and completed by the merchant (or their representative). This is similar to Mobile EFTPOS except it is processed via a mobile phone/device.

Mobile payment service provider model

The four potential mobile payment models:
  1. Operator-Centric Model: The mobile operator acts independently to deploy mobile payment service. The operator could provide an independent mobile wallet from the user mobile account(airtime). A large deployment of the Operator-Centric Model is severely challenged by the lack of connection to existing payment networks. Mobile network operator should handle the interfacing with the banking network to provide advanced mobile payment service in banked and under banked environment. Pilots using this model have been launched in emerging countries but they did not cover most of the mobile payment service use cases. Payments were limited to remittance and airtime top up.
  2. Bank-Centric Model: A bank deploys mobile payment applications or devices to customers and ensures merchants have the required point-of-sale (POS) acceptance capability. Mobile network operator are used as a simple carrier, they bring their experience to provide Quality of service
    Quality of service
    The quality of service refers to several related aspects of telephony and computer networks that allow the transport of traffic with special requirements...

     (QOS) assurance.
  3. Collaboration Model: This model involves collaboration among banks, mobile operators and a trusted third party.
  4. Peer-to-Peer Model: The mobile payment service provider acts independently from financial institutions and mobile network operators to provide mobile payment. For example the [mHITs] SMS payment service uses a peer-to-peer model

See also

  • Electronic money
    Electronic money
    Electronic money is money or scrip that is only exchanged electronically. Typically, this involves the use of computer networks, the internet and digital stored value systems...

  • Financial cryptography
    Financial cryptography
    Financial cryptography is the use of cryptography in applications in which financial loss could result from subversion of the message system.Cryptographers think of the field as originating in the work of Dr David Chaum who invented the blinded signature...

  • Mobile Payment Using USSD
  • Mobile ticketing
    Mobile ticketing
    1. Mobile ticketing is the process whereby customers can order, pay for, obtain and validate tickets from any location and at any time using mobile phones or other mobile handsets. Mobile tickets reduce the production and distribution costs connected with traditional paper-based ticketing channels...

  • SEMOPS

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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