‘An Easy Way to Pay’ is Not Enough to Drive Global Adoption of the Mobile Wallet
Mobey Forum White Paper Provides a New Perspective on Market Development
22 November, 2011, Helsinki – Simply providing consumers with the convenience and functionality of mobile wallet technology will not be sufficient to drive mass-market adoption, asserts Mobey Forum in a new white paper announced today. Entitled ‘Mobile Wallet – Definition and Vision’, the paper offers a new perspective on what will drive consumer take up and highlights how industry stakeholders need to work together to extend the user experience beyond that of a conventional wallet by providing ‘rich content’ that offers unique opportunities for users.
The paper from Mobey Forum, the global bank-led industry association defining a prosperous mobile financial services ecosystem, also aims to bring clarity to the sector by identifying market drivers and offering definitions for ambiguous terminology.
This is the first in a series of papers that provide the industry with a new level of thinking on what is required of stakeholders to facilitate widespread market adoption of the mobile wallet. The paper analyses three success factors and explains that simply migrating the capabilities of a traditional wallet to a virtual environment, would drastically limit consumer appeal. The organisation believes it is crucial that the mobile wallet provides consumers with ‘rich content’ such as loyalty schemes and voucher offers, that add value to both users and mobile marketers.
The document, developed by the Mobey Forum Mobile Wallet Task Force, will be of interest to all financial institutions, mobile network operators, handset manufacturers, operating system providers and any technical vendors operating in the near field communication environment.
Gerhard Romen, Chairman of the Mobile Wallet Task Force of Mobey Forum and Director of Mobile Financial Services at Nokia, said: “The recent deployment of mobile wallets is an encouraging indication that the market is coming together to enable this technology. There are already numerous definitions for ‘mobile wallet’ within the industry, so Mobey Forum felt it was important to offer a neutral voice and provide some clear definitions, alongside a considered view of how the market is likely to develop.
“The industry needs to ensure that it takes a holistic approach to development and communicates effectively the mobile wallet’s value proposition,” adds Gerhard. “Innovation in mobile marketing will be at the core of this proposition and we see huge potential for consumers to benefit.”
Sirpa Nordlund, Executive Director of Mobey Forum, adds: “The adoption of the mobile wallet is critical to the global acceptance of mobile payments. The banking industry is key to enabling and facilitating mobile payments. It is now essential for banks to collaborate with other stakeholders to understand and define their role in the ecosystem.”
Future papers within this series will expand upon these notions, and further address current barriers and potential opportunities for the sector.
To download the Mobile Wallet – Definition and Vision white paper without charge, visit www.mobeyforum.org.
Mobey Forum members including leading banks, payment schemes and service companies have all contributed to the white paper.
About Mobey Forum
Mobey Forum is the global leader in defining a sustainable and prosperous mobile financial services ecosystem. Established in 2000, it brings together leading financial institutions, mobile network operators, mobile handset manufacturers and payment processors and vendors, committed to accelerating the mass-market deployment of user-friendly mobile financial services by promoting open and secure technology standards.
