Mobile PayPass

Today’s New York Times Article: Cellphones as Credit Cards? Americans Must Wait focuses on the future of mobile payments in the US hits the nail on the head.  Near Field Communications may be the most interesting and technically robust method of mobile payments, but it is tied up in limbo between two industries which have little understanding of each other, much less sympathy. Especially in this economy, neither the financial services/payments industry nor the wireless carriers want to give up claim to potential new revenue streams, yet each industry is dependent on the massive convenience and audience of the other.  What this prisoner’s dilemma needs is a major launch, a blowout co-sponsored marketing effort to get real attention on the consumer benefits of proximity payments by phone: Ditch your wallet and pay with your phone with a simple tap.

However, as the debate rages on, mobile payments do happen every day.  With three taps, I can order a game from my wishlist from my Amazon.com app on my iphone.  The payment is made to my account on file and the goods arrives on my porch in the addicting brown box in a day.  Searching for something more exotic, say a Dremel Multi-Pro during pinewood derby season, takes about a minute longer.  Total mobile satisfaction.

And a word about iphone apps bought through iTunes from my phone…again, mobile payments. How happy am I with my Tetris, Solitare, Grocery List Maker, Labyrinth, PayPal, Twitter client and more (oh, so much more)? I’m hooked, in a way that a skeptical mobile person hasn’t been hooked before.

So, while the debate rages on, and business case draft after draft get shredded, I’ll continue to pay and play with my phone as much as I like.

Come to think of it, have consumers’ expectations of mobile experiences raised so far beyond what NFC can deliver that it just doesn’t matter if it ever launches?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.