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While we’re all waiting for (Near Field Communication) NFC-based payments to start taking off, other methods of mobile payments such as SMS are gaining traction. There are no doubts that NFC promises new opportunities for the whole ecosystem, it’s just that it takes more time than anyone thought for the wide adoption.
Enter AcCells. This Israel-based company has a solution called AcCells mID which enables contactless payments with ANY mobile phone! The trick is to identify a mobile phone using only near field GSM signaling and authenticate is as unique to the billing servers. In that sense, no need for upgrades on user’s behalf are required and any mobile phone will work just as well. Moreover, there’s no need for change to the existing infrastructure on behalf of network operators and/or banks and financial institutions.
I find AcCells offering quite compelling, as waiting for NFC is tiresome. I know there are quite a few companies heavily investing in NFC, but if AcCells find a way to pitch its technology properly, we may see the bright future of contactless payments sooner rather than later. We’ll certainly watch carefully and next week I’ll attend Mobile Money Summit where I hope to see and hear more on the subject. Stay tuned…
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
