Nokia Financial Services - wha ?
 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-103...g=2547-1_3-0-5

But of course this is still related to Mobile phones - using phones to pay various merchants using the Nokia Financial services.

This bring to mind the question ...
Many nokia phones had NFC chips which allowed one to use the phone to pay electronicaly or use any Near Field communication plaform for payment or like card swiping functions.

Will the new phones (inlcusing the N900) include a NFC chip in it ?

Re: Nokia Financial Services - wha ?
 

I don't know, but we do know that paying through swiping your cell phone is all the rage in Japan.

Re: Nokia Financial Services - wha ?
 

This could also help the Ovi store, negating the need for operator help with billings and the transactions.

Re: Nokia Financial Services - wha ?
 

NFC was the next big thing a few years ago. Without any insider info, I'd say that it sounds like Nokia got pissed off at the credit card companies for dragging their feet.

Re: Nokia Financial Services - wha ?
 

This could be a supplement to NFC. Nokia Money will be compatible with other payment systems like paypal and maybe western union, etc. Its a service, not a piece of hardware. I'm wondering why Nokia didn't call it Ovi Pay??

Re: Nokia Financial Services - wha ?
 

This is nothing to do with rich world fads, it's more likely to be about developing world needs. Most of Nokia's sales and profits come from developing countries, so the needs of people in the developing world are (or ought to be) top of their list of priorities. This has been said often but it bears repeating, Nokia's top two customers by volume and sales are China and India, both of which have vast amounts of rural poverty.

The arrival of relatively secure long range wireless connections through mobile phone networks has been something of a revolution in many poor countries, where it provides the first ever reliable infrastructure for banking. Banks are essential for development, so anything which makes banking available to a wider audience will also encourage development.

The BBC has regularly reported about the effect of mobile connections on poor world economies:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6339671.stm

An enormous number of people, including taxi drivers and tradesmen, now rely on mobile phones to run their small businesses - well over 80% in Egypt and South Africa alone, according to a report by the UN's Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad).

...

A ground-breaking study led by an expert from the London Business School in 2005 concluded that an increase of 10 mobile phones per 100 people in African developing countries would increase GDP growth by 0.6%.

0.6% sounds like a small amount but it isn't, it's a huge vast sum of money which makes a real difference to any country, rich or poor. Any economic policy which increases GDP growth by 0.6% is a huge success.


EDIT:

In fact Nokia are quite explicit about their intentions to aim this at people in the developing world:

Re: Nokia Financial Services - wha ?
 

*sigh*

I remember how pumped we were over testing this. It was so defeating when it just seemed to evaporate...

Re: Nokia Financial Services - wha ?
 

iirc, there is several issue with NFC.

1. it needs to follow the sim, not the phone.

2. card companies love those bits of plastic with their logo on, as it acts as a brand reinforcement each time they are handled.

3. unless the card companies do not allow a lower limit where there is no transaction fee, there will be no spur of the moment use, as people will get fed up with the nickle and dime cost as much or more then the object payed for...

Re: Nokia Financial Services - wha ?
 

I don't see any point to NFC, why not just pay for things by text message?

Everyone who wants to use electronic payments is likely to either have a mobile phone or have access to one, so why require expensive new hardware when all existing phones can already handle SMS payments?

For example if you want to use the public transport in Helsinki you just send a text message from any phone to the public transport number and it sends you a one hour electronic ticket by return message. The cost of the ticket is charged to your phone bill (or taken from your phone credit on prepaid SIMs). No need for new phones, and no need for any payment systems at all on the actual trains/buses/trams or stations.

You just show the reply to a ticket inspector if they want to see your ticket. It's so simple and it doesn't require anyone to buy or learn anything new.

There are coke machines that work the same way, you just send a message or phone the number on the machine, it charges the cost of the coke to your phone bill and the can or bottle is instantly dispensed. Works with any phone, no need for change, no need for credit cards, no need for any kind of payment mechanism on the machine itself.

Re: Nokia Financial Services - wha ?
 

its all about that snap purchase thing that the credit card companies love.

its about grab, swipe, go, without entering any pin, code or similar...

Re: Nokia Financial Services - wha ?
 

Well... you don't really have to enter much with SMS payments. At most you'd enter a five digit phone number to send the text message to, and perhaps some short reference number. The train ticket number is something like 12345 and the message is A1.

It seems extremely silly to ignore the 2000 million SMS-equipped phones out there in favour of NFC technology which hardly anyone has and hardly anyone knows about. :-)

Re: Nokia Financial Services - wha ?
 

blame usa ;)

but still, NFC is supposedly going to replace all kinds of payment terminals in stores and other places...