Mobile payment’s third way set to strike?

Mobile NFC (Near Field Communication), the Oyster-alike method of user-present mobile payment sounds and promises to be very slick indeed. But even though the first few handsets should start trickling into the market before the end of the year, it’s a while off yet.

It’s not now, or even soon for the mass market. What could be both of those is m-payment’s slow burner.

All’s been quiet on the Payforit front since the launch of the version 2.0 scheme rules which saw the incorporation of single click purchase functionality.

So, what’s next? If you’ve heard of Web Payforit but not yet seen it in action, that should be about to change.

Dialogue Communications were the first to publicly offer the solution way back in May 2008. Now other Accredited Payment Intermediaries of the UK’s cross network mobile internet billing solution, such as MX Telecom, are beginning to roll-out their traditional web-based interpretation.

The aim of Web Payforit is to extend mobile payments outside the exclusively mobile environment, and into the full internet arena. With Web Payforit consumers are able to purchase content worth up to £10 online, and have their mobile phone account charged, rather than their bank account. It enables consumers to make a mobile payment using their PC.

Inserting their mobile phone number into a form on the traditional internet will result in a message containing a unique pin being sent to the handset, which can then be re-inserted into a web form to complete the transaction.

Mobile ticketing is one market ripe for taking advantage of such solutions, with the potential options of payment and ticket delivery being handled entirely on the mobile handset (via mobile website and traditional Payforit), all on the traditional internet, or using a combination of the two. The flexibility is there.

And by exposing the mobile payment option across more traditional websites, Payforit’s brand recognition should be significantly improved.

NFC in the long term for physical, in-person purchases: quite possibly. Online / on-handset virtual purchases for all: thanks to Web Payforit, it could be just around the corner.