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Secure Payments
Over the next two years, most mobile phones being manufactured will be equipped to function as payment devices.
ViVOtech, Inc., a Santa Clara, CA-based technology company whose contactless payment technologies are used by Yellow Cabs in New York, is working with business partners including Nokia, Samsung, LG, and Motorola to develop and implement contactless NFC payment technology that will be built into new phones being manufactured later this year. New payment technology being built into the phones will include new Radio Frequency (RF) and NFC hardware, says Mohammad Khan, president and founder of ViVOtech.
The company is working with Citibank and MasterCard to launch a rollout of a wireless payment network in Bangalore in late March, says Khan. ViVOtech is planning a limited commercial rollout of the secured payment service in the U.S. for 50,000 to 100,000 mobile phones in 2010 before the service is extended to "tens of millions of phones" in 2011 and 2012, says Khan.
"The idea of being able to use a phone as a payment device has tremendous value for retailers and consumer packaged goods companies," says Cathy Hotka, principal of Cathy Hotka & Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based retail consultant and former vice president of IT at the National Retail Federation. But even though the concept is appealing, retailers still have concerns about support requirements for a large number of devices as well as the type of encryption to be used, says Hotka.
Battery Life
Having a mobile device with extended battery power is critical not just for consumers but for service technicians, medical professionals and other workers who use tablets and ruggedized devices to help them do their jobs. "We're getting beyond shift-life (eight-to-ten hour) battery power today," says Brian Viscount, vice president of product management in the mobile computing division of Motorola's Enterprise Mobility Business. Companies such as Motorola are also making mobile battery packs more intelligent.
It can be expensive for CIOs to take a mobile device out of service to replace a battery, particularly for devices that are used by field service technicians like utility workers, says Viscount. Motorola now offers a software package called Mobility Service Platform which allows corporate customers like Baylor Health to see the number of recharge cycles left on each device and then schedule service around that, says Viscount.
Next: A Peek Into Future Mobile Applications
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