Mobile Shopping -Using mobile phones at the checkout counter

Using mobile phones at the checkout counter is just around the corner!

You will be able to use your smartphone as a credit card.

You will be able to carry your entire wallet in your phone. Sounds a
bit risky -but it can't be worse than what we already have.

Using your cell phone to pay for products will be a simple as waving your Cell phone near the product's UPC/GTIN scan code. The most exciting new mobile payment platform from Visa demonstrated that there is no need to swipe credit cards. Just use your phone to check out - yes it is that easy. Your cell phone will show you your bank account balance and you can also interact with your bank directly via your cell phone. I am sure they are using encryption for securing the data - we will post more on this as it is released.

OK so just how are they going to do this? They are using smart tags. These are low-cost tags/stickers that store data and can be placed in magazines or other public places that contain information about products you want to purchase. Much like we use barcodes - UPC codes at the checkout counter today. It is similar to the manula checkout process offered by some stores where you check yourself out. In this case - you would just use your phone instead of the stores checkout counters. These tags can also be attached to business cards so that people can call the owner of given business card just by moving their phone close to the business card.

Mastercard claims to be two years ahead of Visa in the development of this technology. They state that select mobile phones will be equipped with mobile payment ability removing the need to carry a credit card with you to shop. MasterCard is cooperating closely with Nokia Mobile - the payment extender will be available also as SD card usable in smartphones. So it appears that you will have the ability to extend the functionality to other cell phones that have an SD card slot. We will keep you posted on their progress.