Near-Field Communication
Near-Field Communication (NFC) has become a key area of focus for mobile operators and over the past few years there have been many m-payment trials based on NFC conducted around the world, including countries such as Seoul, Nice, Oslo and Singapore. There have also been a number of developments in Europe.
The availability of smart phones which incorporated NFC technology were limited, but this is beginning to change with mobile manufacturers like LG Electronics and RIM launching new mobile devices equipped with NFC.
Interest in the m-payment sector is not just limited to the mobile operators and with Google’s announcement in May 2011 regarding Google Wallet – the sector became a whole lot more competitive.
Google Wallet, based on NFC technology, is initially a partnership between Sprint and financial institutions Citi and Mastercard, with First Data providing payment processing services. Google has stressed it is keen to develop an open platform and expand its services further in the future, as long as security is not compromised. Google’s 2011 acquisition of Motorola Mobility will also compliment its developments in this area.
The Mobile Payments & NFC Asia 2012 conference in Hong Kong, 19-20 April 2012 hosted by Symphony Global will cover Mobile Payments, NFC Technologies, Mobile Money Transfer & Mobile Remittance, Mobile Banking, Banking the Unbanked & Microfinance Services, Winning Strategies to Profit from Innovative & Sustainable Mobile Payments Services.
For more information see: Mobile Payments & NFC World Summit 2012
For more information on BuddeComm research see: World Digital Economy – Mass Adoption of E-Commerce and M-Commerce Channels
Tagged in: Asia, Digital Media, Global, Mobile payments, NFC
