November 25, 2008
GSM Association Urges Handset Makers to Add NFC
By Greg Galitzine, Group Editorial Director
The GSM Association has called on phone makers to integrate near-field communications functionality into mobile handsets so that consumers can reap the benefits of mobile payment services as quickly as possible.
Michael O'Hara, chief marketing officer at the association urged handset manufacturers to make such phones available to consumers by the middle of next year.
Trials are underway across eight countries involving nine mobile operators. Further pilots are planned across 14 countries by 15 mobile operators.
A recent report from Juniper Research (News - Alert) predicted that mobile money transfer and near-field communications transactions may account for 50 percent of the global mobile payment market by 2013.
"There is a huge latent demand for a large variety of mobile transaction services, of which there is universal interest in proximity payments, as trials across the world have already shown," said Rob Conway, chief executive of the GSMA (News - Alert).
"We are committed to ensuring that mobile payment services are delivered as efficiently and cost effectively as possible. But this will require device manufacturers to make sure that the vast majority of commercially available handsets incorporate the Single Wire Protocol and Near Field Communications features as standard."
In September, Visa revealed that it had teamed up with Nokia (News - Alert) for creating payment-related services and applications and, last month, MasterCard announced PayPass, an over-the-air provisioning service.
Greg Galitzine is editorial director for TMC’s (News - Alert) IP Communications suite of products, including TMCnet.com. To read more of Greg’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.
Edited by Greg Galitzine
