M-payments continue to strive for legitimacy

Carriers in the United Kingdom are hoping to get users to PayForIt with their phones.
The operators launched a standardized payment scheme designed to provide a consistent user interface regardless of carrier for mobile transactions of roughly $20 or less. Users are identified via the network connection-eliminating the need for shoppers to enter a phone number or credit-card info-and charges appear on monthly carrier statements.
PayForIt is supported by all five major U.K. wireless service providers as well as EA Mobile, Iplay, Gameloft, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
“This will ensure that the payment experience for consumers is consistent, transparent and user-friendly at all times,” according to the PayForIt Web site.
PayForIt is similar-in concept, if not in scope-to Simpay, a pan-European mobile payment service that failed to get off the ground in 2005. A joint venture established by several European carriers, Simpay was aborted after T-Mobile withdrew its support, leading U.K. operators to work on their own standardized platform.
While Simpay was more of a technology platform, PayForIt is more a blueprint for m-commerce across carriers. For the new standard to thrive, it will need to address an issue that proved to be Simpay’s undoing, according to Dan Wright, CEO of mPoria Inc., a Seattle-based developer of m-commerce technology.
“There were some key flaws to the Simpay model: operators challenged their own portals with the Simpay system, and in order for content providers to get direct payment they needed to post content on the operator’s portal,” Wright said via e-mail. “The two were contradictory and the model was not economically feasible for content providers. For PayForIt to succeed this problem must be resolved.”
The service will compete with existing online payment services as the line between mobile and the traditional Internet continues to blur.
“PayForIt is another payment option for (the) mobile Web along with the legacy operator payment models (including) Amazon’s Flexible Payments Service, Google checkout and, of course, PayPal,” according to blogger Kevin Smith, a member of Vodafone’s R&D team. “However, PayForIt is the only one (thus far) designed from the ground up with mobile in mind, and as such is in a good position to proliferate the mobile Web.”
That may not be as true for U.S. consumers, however, Wright countered. Americans were quick to use third-party online payment services, and those experiences are already translating into m-commerce transactions.
“The U.S. market is uniquely different than other countries, with mobile users already familiar with different payment options like PayPal, Google Checkout, credit cards, etc.,” Wright said. “It’s almost the reverse of what has happened in other markets-primarily because the Internet and ecommerce has paved the way. Merchants and consumers alike are realizing the benefits of these payment options-they make consumer transactions quick, easy and convenient, and offer a modicum of safety in environments that may be fraught with security issues and fraudulent activity.”
But don’t look for PayForIt to hit U.S. shores anytime soon: Wright and others agree that a system is unlikely in the United States, where carriers have consistently eschewed standardized platforms in favor of proprietary solutions.
“In the U.S., most operators are likely to manage their own payment system in-house, as there is less of a culture on the mobile industry of operators working closely together on initiatives,” according to Fran Heeran, CTO of Valista Ltd., an Irish digital transaction company.