There were a couple of announcements last week that show Mobile Money applications from the perspective of leading retailers such as Starbucks and Amazon.
Starbucks is touting their iPhone app that makes the in-store experience more efficient. Combining this with Starbucks’ loyalty card and prepaid gift card makes this a potentially widely distributed mobile point of sale payment application. It is only a matter of time before we see similar applications from Walmart, Sears, and other major brick and mortar retailers.

In the internet space, Amazon reported that consumers worldwide have purchased more than $1 Billion of products in the last twelve months using its m-commerce site, mobile app, text message selling program or Kindle e-reader. The figure also includes sales of the Kindle hardware itself, not necessarily purchased through a mobile device. The transaction volume is impressive, and with internet commerce expanding daily, the mobile commerce component will continue to grow as well.
These are strong indicators of a burgeoning mobile payment marketplace.
On the flip side, however, these announcements should send shivers down the spines of MNOs. In neither of these commercial models are MNOs in the loop except for some paltry processing of text messages.

The key question MNOs should be asking themselves is how to make sure that they remain firmly entrenched in the mobile payment food chain.

Watch this space for more.

About the Author: Jeremy Kagan is an internationally recognized expert in online and mobile payments. Jeremy founded eBIZ.mobility in 2002 with the mission to expand the internet commerce ecosystem by enabling more people to participate via Telco and other alternative billing.  eBIZ.mobility accomplishes this by providing the real-time universal clearing solution called OneTouch Online Purchasing(r) that enables any Telco, Mobile Operator, Internet Provider, Bank, or prepaid company that has a trusted billing, prepaid, or other financial relationship with consumers to clear their online payments. Jeremy shares his mobile money experiences on a consulting basis with selected client companies.
Contact: jeremy.kagan@ebizmobility.com, Tel. +972 54 8080 541