

Are Mobile Payments the Next Big Thing? - dkasper
http://calebelston.com/are-mobile-payments-the-next-big-thing

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mtrichardson
My main issue with buying online is shipping time.

However, excluding that - looking back over two years of my buying history
shows that the vast, vast, vast majority of everything I've bought online has
been on Amazon.

That being said, I do like his mobile flow. I also completely agree with his
assessment of the carriers as the primary issue in all of this. They're
habitually greedy. Given that, for the next while at least, I'm more than
happy just using Amazon.

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nzmsv
The carriers do slow down innovation. It's almost funny that they think of
themselves as high-tech companies. And because the radio waves are heavily
regulated everywhere in the world, there can be no competition until someone
comes up with a technology that obsoletes current mobile phones.

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GavinB
So I'm shopping on Amazon on my laptop, and I want to check out. So I go to a
_different_ device, and wait for a message over a _different_ communications
medium, type in a response, send it back, and wait for the web app to refresh?

I guess mobile phones are becoming the only easy and reliable means of
identity verification.

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emil0r
The ease would be in not having to sign up in the first place. Place your
order, put in your phone number, answer yes and you're done. Smaller sites
would be the winners.

You could also more easily implement time-delayed transactions. Make to order-
deliveries sometimes don't charge up front, but instead opt to charge when
they're about to deliver. If you (the seller) could send a simple SMS asking
for payment, or phone a number when you (the buyer) got the invoice instead of
having to sign in with your bank on your computer it'd make life easier for at
least some people.

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davidmurphy
yes, I think Mobile payments will be huge in the US, if carriers can come to
their senses and allow it to happen.

I wonder if RFID integration with mobile phones will also gain traction at
all, like Mobile FeliCa in Japan:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FeliCa>

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auston
I say yes for the simple reason that Pizza Hut has done $1m in sales from
their iPhone app.

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pinstriped_dude
That's not a nod to mobile payments - but because Pizza Hut offers a 20%
discount for using your iPhone to order a pizza.

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thinkcomp
We're hoping they are... If anyone in or around Palo Alto wants to help us
build a really cool product related to them, let me know!

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keltecp11
What you think of Venmo?

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c00p3r
It'a already here. At least in India. Mobile payments could be involved when
you are recharging your Airtel phone. There is also an mobile banking
(payment) app that comes with Airtel's new SIM.

And of course, South Korea is a global leader in mobile payment technology,
but in this case I cannot provide my own actual experience. =)

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ramchip
In Japan as well. I could use my cellphone to take the train at any station in
Tokyo and probably elsewhere, buy stuff at the convenience store, etc. You can
even link a credit card to your phone so you don't have to charge it with
actual money.

I don't think you can checkout stuff on the internet though.

