Amazon to adopt NFC technology
Amazon is set to introduce a new service based on NFC (near-field-communication) technology that will allow consumers to pay for products via their mobile phone.
Users will be able to hold their handset near an NFC-enabled checkout and use an app to make a payment for goods and services, or to redeem vouchers or loyalty points.
As discussed at MediaTel’s recent Come on Mobile… Stand Up and Deliver! event, mobile money is expected to be the next big thing.
Gartner forecasts that within a couple of years, 340 million global mobile users will conduct some sort of mobile payment.
And according to ABI Research, the number of mobile phones with integrated NFC capabilities will double next year from 34 million in 2011.
Amazon is expected to tie in its new service with Amazon.com, encouraging consumers to search for items (the right size or colour for example) on the website, according to BizReport.
NFC will also be integrated into future Windows phones and Apple is reportedly planning to add NFC to the iPhone 5, which is due to be released later this year.
At MediaTel’s mobile event, Richard Johnson, chief strategy officer of monitise, talked about the opportunity for mobile money given that there are five billion mobiles worldwide and just two billion bank accounts.
Fellow panellist Marc Overton, VP of wholesale & M2M at Everything Everywhere, explained that customers can have a bank account with Orange and T-Mobile, and said ‘tap & pay’ capabilities (like a contact card) “will happen”.
However, Overton said it will take time to ensure the experience is up to scratch – and it will require ‘retraining’ people, not only customers but also businesses, staff and bankers.
Last week, the Mobile Money Network (MMN) – a monitise joint venture partner – launched its first service ‘Simple Tap’, which allows users (with any mobile phone, on any network and with any bank) to buy products from signed-up retailers, wherever they are.
Consumers will go through a one-off registration process to secure payment details, such as a credit or debit card number and delivery address, and then be able to type a product code in to the service through a mobile app or via a text message before the item is paid for and delivered.
Google is also in this space – its Nexus S has NFC installed and there are strong rumours they are about to trial a payments services, using their Google CheckOut, according to Simon Andrews’ Mobile Fix.
Through Adwords and Checkout, Google already has lots of merchant accounts, which is a strong advantage, Andrews says. Of course Amazon and Apple also have the advantage of already having easy to use secure payment accounts.
Mobile operators also have the potential to get involved – but they have been slow off the mark.
There are clearly huge opportunities but it is difficult to predict which player(s) will lead the mobile money revolution (and when it will happen).