Mobile ticketing standard agreed by UK rail companies

Back in October we talked to Ben Whitaker from secure mobile applications company Masabi about tickets on mobile phones. The company has now announced that it's developed a new standard for secure barcode rail ticketing in conjunction with the Rail Settlement Plan, which is the ticketing organisation jointly owned by train and rail operating companies. The new open standard allows all mobile ticketing schemes to use a common barcode system and means they're able to start accepting a single mobile ticket on a journey involving multiple rail operators. [Press release]

Vodafone launches mobile money transfer scheme

Vodafone is testing an international mobile money transfer service in partnership with Safaricom and Western Union. The service will let people in the UK send money from selected Western Union outlets (currently just in Reading... and no, I don't know how large Berkshire's ex-pat Kenyan community is) directly to Safaricom mobile customers in Kenya. People receiving money can use their funds in a variety of ways, including withdrawing it via participating agents in Kenya or forwarding it on to another mobile phone user. The new scheme builds on the success of Vodafone and Safaricom's existing M-PESA service in Kenya. [Press release]

GSM Association wants mobiles to be NFC-equipped from next year

The GSM Association has said it wants full NFC functionality - the ability to use 'touch payment' systems - built into commercially-available mobile handsets from mid-2009. This would let the phone communicate with contactless readers to provide credit and debit payments, turning it into a 'mobile wallet'. The organisation says delivering mobile payment services efficiently and cost-effectively means device manufacturers need to make sure the vast majority of handsets incorporate Near Field Communications features as standard. [Press release]

200 million people will have used mobile coupons within 5 years

Juniper Research has estimated that 200 million people will have received promotional coupons on their mobile phones by 2013. The company says the market is currently most advanced in Japan and Korea but mobile coupons are becoming an increasingly popular tool for restaurants, entertainment and shopping in the USA and Europe. [Press release]

Mobile gambling wagers to hit $27.5 billion by 2013

The research just keeps coming. Juniper Research say mobile betting will be worth $27.5 billion (£17.5 million) by 2013. They reckon mobile operators are much more interested in offering betting services and accepting advertising from betting companies than they were last year. [Press release]

Money transfer and NFC will account for half of all mobile payments by 2013

A new report from Juniper Research says mobile money transfer and contactless Near Field Communications will account for 50% of the overall mobile payment market globally by 2013. It expects the mobile payments market to move from today's focus on digital goods (such as ringtones, music, and games) to customers transferring money and using NFC features to make purchases. In addition, the overall mobile payments market is expected to grow by a factor of ten between now and 2013. This week's Mobile News podcast includes an interview with Tom Whitaker of Masabi about the ways that m-payments and m-ticketing will change the way we use our mobiles. [Press release]

This week's Mobile News podcast now online

This week's Mobile News podcast is now available to download. In our main feature, Iain Graham talks to Ben Whitaker from Masabi about mobile payments and mobile tickets. Mark Bridge and James Rosewell join Iain to discuss the latest mobile industry headlines - plus there's a preview of the Motorola Aura. As usual, you can download or listen free at TheFonecast.com and on the Mobile News website... and you'll find us on iTunes and via RSS too.

Mobile transactions worth $600bn worldwide by 2013

You wait ages for a story involving NFC, then three of them come along within a couple of days. Juniper Research says mobile money transfers and purchases of digital and physical goods will generate transactions worth over $600bn by 2013; that's an increase of almost ten times today's levels. Although today's mobile market is dominated by digital goods purchases such as ringtones, music, games and infotainment, the company's report says there are three high potential markets that offer major new opportunities for the future: contactless NFC, mobile money transfer and physical goods purchases via mobile devices. Juniper Research has published reports on mobile transactions and mobile shopping earlier this year. [Source: MarketWire.com]

Japanese government promotes mobile payments

It's quite a day for mobile payment stories. Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications says it's planning to work with the country's mobile phone operators to promote the use of mobile wallet services worldwide. It's backing contactless technology based on Sony's FeliCa chips, which has been used by NTT DoCoMo for three years. [Source: BWCS.com]

78% of us want to pay by phone

The O2 Wallet trial, which we mentioned in our podcast on 6th December, has revealed that nine out of ten trialists were happy using Near Field Communications (NFC) technology on a mobile phone - and 78% would be interested in using contactless services if they were available. Interest in combining the London Transport Oyster card with a mobile phone was particularly high, with 89% of trialists saying they were interested. The trial, which ran for 6 months with 500 London triallists, combined a Nokia 6131 mobile phone with Oyster and credit cards. [Press release]

Mobile finance will be driven by consumers without bank accounts

41.5 billion mobile financial service transactions will be made worldwide by the end of 2011, according to figures from Juniper Research. This compares with just 2.7 billion in 2007. It says the market will be driven by two sectors: users in developing countries who do not currently hold bank accounts or credit cards, and users in developed countries who are too young to access conventional financial services. [Press release]

Carphone Warehouse launches payment card

Just when you thought there were no more surprises to come from The Carphone Warehouse, the company has announced that it'll be launching a payment card in August. Customers will use their mobile phones to transfer cash from their bank account to the card - and will then be able to purchase items from a wide range of retailers worldwide. [Source: Mobile News]

Mobile phones to be used for £295 billion of financial transactions by 2011

Mobile phone customers are expected to conduct over $587 billion (£295 billion) of financial transactions over the phone by 2011, according to a new report from Juniper Research. It says around 612 million customers worldwide will be using their phones to handle their money in 2011 with most using their phones for mobile banking, although 204 million users are expected to spend $22 billion in mobile payments.