Originally posted by Ransika deSilva:
My vision of a m-payment is nothing but giving the user to allow the phone as a credit card, you pay it through the phone, and that ammount is added to your phone bill.
I'll go out on a limb here and say you'll never get charges added to a subscriber's phone bill. That would require the cooperation with the carrier. Big carriers won't give you the time of day.
So why do you need the charges added to a phone bill? That's not really important is it?
What does it mean to use a "phone as a credit card"? Can you provide a example scenario? Obviously, I can't swipe my phone through a credit card maching at Target's checkout counter.
When I buy something from target.com, I type in my credit card number and some other information. I never actually get my card out. I have the number in my PC so I just cut-n-paste my number onto the target.com website.
Likewise, when ordering something from an 800 number, I don't always use my card. I pull out my PDA and read my credit card number.
So why does a Target cashier require you to swipe anything? Shouldn't I just be able to tell them my credit card number? Ever had a problem with the card reader? I've had
cards with worn out magnetic strips that can't be read. The cashier takes my card and manually punches in the numbers. So they don't really need my card either. I could tell them my number and they could punch it in manually.
All this brings me back to using the phone. If you stored your credit card number on your phone someplace, you could use your phone in place of your card when placing orders on line, over the phone, or with a cooperative cashier.
I know that credit card companies charge different merchant fees for "card present" and "card absent" orders. That's probably why the cashier wants to physically see your card. Until you change that policy, you may never eliminate the need to carry a physical card.
Now go back to paypal for a minute. They don't have any physical card requirements. The transaction is processed in real-time from users who login with a username/password. Furthermore, they don't charge a fee. That's the kind of transaction you need to enable m-comerce.