thinkd2c

Garry Barker from The Age takes a look at next generation mobile phone services.

From the article:

"Voice will remain the "killer application" on the phone but, increasingly, the handset will provide a multitude of internet-based services, most of which have not yet come on to the market.

The mobile phone will become your ticket on the train and tram, it will pay for your breakfast muffin and coffee and, according to Visa and MasterCard, it could even take over the functions of your credit card.

You can already buy tickets over the phone, but we will see the phone becoming a payment method itself, according to Vodafone's Victorian general manager Edward Goff. The phone will hold the credit so the Visas and the MasterCards will be doing deals to make the payment method fully integrated with the phone.

For small purchases the system would debit a "wallet" carried in the phone's memory that can be topped up by making a call to the bank, tapping in a PIN number and specifying the amount to be transferred - your own portable ATM.

A contactless payments system could double or treble the speed of service in, say, a fast-food outlet. It could also be used to award loyalty points. The company system would recognise your phone, tell it that it has enough points to get a free coffee and beep the happy information to its owner."