Mobile Payments
From Mobileradicals
XML Mobile Payment architecture
With contactless stored value cards being used successfully to pay for mass-transit systems in London, Hong-Kong and various cities throughout the US, it is clear that in the near term the future of mobile commerce lies in integrating RFID or NFC communications protocols into mobile devices to power mobile payments. NTT DoCoMo has been aggresively promoting its Edy service, powered by the Philips Felica contactless payment architecture, and has gained significant traction in Japan.
However, researchers within the MobileRadicals belive there is an opportunity for a more desktop-like mobile commerce solution within the wireless space. With increasing processing power on mobile terminals, now having the equivalent number crunching capability of desktop computers of 10 years ago, the ability for producing more intensive, and secure, mcommerce applications is clear. Advances in screen size and resolution and the Human-Computer-Interface (HCI) (such as the iPod's famous scroll wheel) make the mobile terminal much more useable for applications that take more interaction than making a phone call.
Despite the clear need for a widely accepted payment solution on the web, none have gained any significant traction. Credit cards have come to dominate online transactions in the last decade, with novel payment startups like Beenz and Flooz collapsing in the dot com crash at the start of the century. Paying for goods and services online with credit cards is so entrenched with consumers it is extremely hard for any new payment entrant to gain acceptance in the marketplace. With this in mind, we have developed xmPay, a xml mobile payment engine that allows users to make credit card payments with their mobile device whilst shopping online.
xmPay allows merchants to create and distribute m-commerce enabled software for use on mobile phones. Developed in Python for Nokia Series 60, the xmPay library completely handles all stages of the transaction, from encrypting the user's card details via SSL, to ensuring address verification systems are in place.
Possible applications for the xmPay library:
- Distribution of electronic catalogues allow users to buy goods or services
- Powering a stand-alone pre-purchase ticketing for public transport
- Prepayment for a government congestion charging scheme
Get the xmPay sourcecode and try it for yourself.

