Thanks to recent tech advances, investments by companies like Apple and Google, and the backing of traditional payment processors (as well as new startups), the mobile payments space is white hot.
Consumers, particularly those in parts of Europe and Asia, have been making purchases using their cellphones for the better part of a decade. Traditional ecommerce solutions aside, however, mobile payments have yet to really go mainstream.
Even if the disruption isn’t happening overnight, mobile payment systems are still poised to help redefine the way business is done all over the world.
Mobile Payment Systems : A Primer
The phrase “mobile payment system” can apply to a number of different technologies and implementations for initiating and accepting transactions using a mobile device.
Forrester Research separates systems into two broad categories:
- Payment systems that utilize a mobile network to initiate or authorize a transaction.
- Contactless systems that use a mobile phone in lieu of a traditional credit card.
In other words, mobile payment systems apply to both how consumers pay for goods, as well as how merchants can process transactions.
Systems that Process Payments
On the processing side, startups like Square want to cut down the barriers associated with accepting credit card transactions.
Last October, Mashable’s Jennifer Van Grove discussed three services that allow merchants to accept credit card payments on mobile devices.
Square works by combining a small,...
