AT&T mobile payment and NFC

AT&T is planning to offer mobile payment solutions by the end of the year.

From RCR Wireless:

"AT&T Inc.’s wireless unit is busily exploring and trialing mobile payment systems, and expects to announce a mobile payments system later this year, according to Spencer White, director of mobile financial services and business development for the company.

“This is an emerging segment that we think very highly of,” White told an audience attending the Mobile Payments World seminar at CTIA Wireless 2007.

Some of the factors that have converged to make the nascent mobile payment business attractive, White said, are the replacement of cash by electronic funds sources, the availability of near-field communication technology, the elevation of data services to the mainstream and consumers’ increasingly common use of Internet banking services.

One of AT&T’s trials included a closed environment at Philips Arena in Atlanta, where people were loaned mobile devices preloaded with funds and could order concessions and access content on-site.

“It’s a natural extension of what people are doing online,” he said."

From MocoNews:

"One interesting point is that White said AT&T doesn’t want to offer mobile payments for goods that will go onto the mobile phone bill. “Our customers are price-sensitive, and we have to compete in a very fierce market to keep costs as low as possible...We think there is significant risk in sticker shock,” he said. He’s got a point—it would only be a matter of time before stories came out about people buying whitegoods and getting surprised by bills of more than $1,000."