MatthewVB

People have been trying to figure out how to turn my cell phone into my next credit card. I had the opportunity to read a write up by HBS on Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) and their spin-off company, NTT DoCoMo. DoCoMo is focused on bringing mobile payments into reality via their partnership with FeliCa. FeliCa has the ‘chip’ technology while DoCoMo knows the phone market. Good partnership, but huge social hurdle to overcome.

Credit card companies were nervous to jump in to the RFID-type of cards. Speedway had a speedpass (not sure if they still do) that allowed customers to pay for gas with a key-token-type-device-thing. Chase has a “blink” technology that utilizes an RFID-like chip in the card so you can tap your card on equipped payment terminals and you don’t have to swipe. DoCoMo is looking to do something like Chase, but with a cell phone.

People are a nervous bunch and don’t like to change financial habits. Mint adoption was slow out of fears of giving a company access to all your financial information in efforts to help you better understand where your money is going. The biggest question facing DoCoMo is: what happens when X. X, in this case, is everything! My phone gets lost, or worse, is stolen. Someone starts walking around with a payment terminal and it taps my bag and steals my money. Am I going to need to still sign? What’s the point then if I do? I have no signature on the back of my phone. What’s my verification number for online orders? What? Can’t do online orders – so I still need a credit card then.

I’m all about advances in technology, but this is a big hurdle and needs to replace the credit card and needs to be secure. Oh, and unless you can get Apple to put it in their phones (or RIM), good luck! Cause you need major phone adoption in addition to major retailer adoption so I could actually pay for something with my phone.

Sell the technology – or license it out. Let someone else figure it out; then come back and do it ten times better.