Pay-by-mobile trial gets the nod

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 19 February 2009 09:51

IT Industry - Market

90 per cent of trial participants were very or extremely satisfied with the contactless mobile phone payment system, and impressive 95 percent said they were likely or extremely likely to use this technology in the future.

"Overwhelmingly the trial participants told us that they saw genuine value in the ability to make smaller transactions, such as for coffees and papers, with a wave of the phone rather than fumbling for change," said Telstra enterprise and government group managing director David Thodey.

"Importantly the businesses that took part in the trial were strong supporters of the technology, seeing it as a way to boost their productivity by serving customers faster."

Speed of service is important for customers and merchants alike. If you're just buying a sandwich and a drink, you want to get in and as quickly as possible to avoid wasting your lunch break.

You don't just want your transaction to be handled quickly, you don't want to be held up because everyone in front of you insists on paying by card.

And the quicker each transaction is handled, the more people can be served at busy times, which should mean more profit for the merchant.

The bank seems pretty excited too.

"Now we know that mobile payments can work successfully in a real environment, revealing a strong consumer and merchant demand for such services, we are looking at ways to launch this into the Australian market," said John Salamito, NAB's regional general manager, consumer product solutions.

And Visa's general manager for Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, Chris Clark, described the user response as "an extremely strong endorsement [that] validates our belief that mobile payments have the potential to transform the way Australians make everyday payments."

The trial was part of the GSM Association's (GSMA's) pay-by-mobile global initiative. The aim is to allow people to wave their mobiles to pay for small purchases wherever they happen to be in the world.

According to Finextra Research, "The collaboration between NAB, Visa and Telstra provides a good model for future industry roll-outs."

Disclosure: the writer holds NAB shares.