Mobile Payments, NFC, Mobile Wallets, Digital Currencies… Gee, so many variables. Does the consumer care? Do Governments care? What does Retail think?
In fact, it’s all about
1. Trust
2. Simplicity
3. Velocity
So, what is NFC?
NFC is a medium for mobile wallet related transactions, which is very similar to the technology used in your Octopus card today. There are different NFC technologies and solutions out there, but do consumers care about the Octopus technology? Not really but
– It’s simple
– They trust the brand (most of the time, when they are not selling private data)
– And it increases the velocity of money in the HK economy
The relationship between NFC and your mobile
As NFC migrates to your mobile phone or smart phone, you are likely to already have this technology on your phone. You will only need a wallet that contains your payment details. There are a number of providers looking to set up the wallet. Here China Mobile just announced their mobile wallet.
Is NFC similar to a credit card?
It is similar to a credit card, which is linked to your banking account and goes to direct debit the balance. Consumers need to build their trust with the mobile wallet as medium. This will take time, like the Octopus card took time to gain the consumer trust and awareness.
Where to from here?
Now you have a smart phone combined with the transfer funds details using NFC. You have a mobile wallet that holds the information associated with the source of funds. However, the question remains what type of funds will you store in your wallet?
So, Can I pay with BITCOIN wallet (NFC)?
Wouldn’t BITCOIN just be another source of currency that you hold in you mobile wallet? If the retail outlet accepts payment in BITCOIN, couldn’t you just pay for your items using BITCOIN, just like the Singapore dollar or Hong Kong dollar or even your Visa and Mastercard?
What we already know
Sure BITCOIN fluctuates significantly in value and you have multiple different marketplaces with different exchange rates, but this is common in the stock market too. But is this the reason why Alibaba banned trading of BITCOIN on their marketplace? But can you still purchase products on Alibaba using BITCOIN?
Here is an example of retailer accepting BITCOIN for products
Overstock.com CEO: retailers must accept BITCOIN or sacrifice market share
Expensify allows staff to reimburse their expenses in BITCOIN
Jiangsu Telecom allows customer to use BITCOIN to purchase mobile phones
Ebay takes it’s first step towards virtual currencies including BITCOIN
Yet, the question is…
Why wouldn’t you accept payments in QQ-Bi or for that matter Facebook credits? Both are a currency with wide adoption in “micro payments” category? Can you imagine paying at a vending machine using your mobile phone with QQ-coins?
This is the interesting debate we want to get going, so join us at …
