Mobile Wallets - A Possibility?

Remember the early days, in the 1980's, when the "mobile" phone was about the size of a brick and nearly as heavy? Very few of us had the opportunity to own one at that time, simply because of the cost of over $3,000 a piece. Now, let's flash forward to today where now virtually everybody from elementary school age kids to our grandparents, are sporting their own phones. The personal mobile phone has become an item we simply cannot live without. If you're like the majority of people, it's probably one of the first things you check in the morning and the last thing before you hit the sack for the night. But now, phones are more than just phones, aren't they?

Over the years, our personal/mobile phones have become "smart". They can do a whole lot more than just make phone calls. They can pay for your meal, open the door to your car, turn on the security system at your home, book a hotel room and on and on. They can access the internet with lightning speed utilizing WIFI connectivity, 3G, 4G or whatever cell service. We also use them to take pictures, text quick messages to friends or colleagues or use their QR reader or the phone's camera to read a code to get more information about a product or service. We can also receive mobile texts, once opting in, from merchants to alert us of their "deal" for the day.

In most recent times, mobile phones have begun to be used, especially by smaller merchants, to process payments for goods or services. This is accomplished by attaching a "dongle" or mini POS type card swiper to the audio jack of the phone. There are products like Square, PayPal's Triangle, Intuit's GoPayment and many others. We're also seeing that many merchant services providers are offering FREE smart phone POS devices. But all of that will be addressed in an upcoming article.

However, with all that said, the main purpose of this article is to speak about using your phone as a "mobile wallet". Let me be a bit clearer on exactly what it is when we're talking about a "mobile wallet". Quite simply it would allow us, as consumers, to replace the plastic cards in our real wallet with some data stored on our phones "virtual" wallet. What's the likelihood that we'll see mass conversion to this type technology here in the US? Really, the idea of using the phone as a "wallet" is nothing new in Kenya or Japan, for example. In other countries like Sweden and Canada, mobility is taking off. But the question that I pose to you here is this... does it make sense to place all of your personal and financial information on your phone? Could we potentially move into a cashless society and would consumers quickly adopt to the technology to use their phone like a wallet?

With identity theft continually on the rise, it's not likely any time soon that consumers will be willing to expose themselves to the potential risk. Developers for this technology assure us that the information transferred to your mobile phone is encrypted and therefore safe. Access to the stored data can only be accomplished by the use of a six digit pin number. So, while this brings a level of comfort, in my mind, still the equipment necessary to even process transactions, using your phone is pretty scarce. Mobile wallets can only work, with current technology at least, on NFC (Near Field Communication where you simply wave your phone in front of a payment device) enabled phones which are very limited today.

In Europe, for example, talk of Mobile Wallets becoming more mainstream has been going on since 2004 and still, hasn't really gained a strong foothold there. So, while this may be the direction we are headed, as a society, don't look for it to happen any time soon on a grand scale. So, in the meantime, just pull out the plastic, keep spending and do your part to move the economy along. See you next time.

My name is Michael Saum and I'm a 64 year old semi-retired, merchant services rep. In my current capacity, I write informative, articles relative to the acceptance of credit/debit cards in your business I also offer my comprehensive, FREE, email course, on the subject of credit card processing with NO SOLICITATION or HYPE. You can enroll by visiting the following website:

http://creditcardprocessingknowledge.com

Expand your knowledge regarding this ever-increasing cost center in your business and end up improving your bottom-line. It will be one of the wisest investments of time you will make in your business that will pay rewards for years to come.

LEARN WHAT YOUR CREDIT CARD PROCESSOR DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW

Source: http://www.readingprinters.co.uk/computer-hardware-articles/2668-mobile-wallets-a-possibility

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