A solution in search of a problem?

There's been a lot of hype around mobile payments over the past year, but the No. 1 problem that the mobile payments market faces is adoption. Consumers simply don't see a reason to replace their cash or plastic with a phone.

And yet one company after another is clamoring to get into the market. Technology companies, such as Google and PayPal have thrown their hats into the ring along with wireless carriers, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile. Banks, such as Barclays and Bank of America,The TagMaster Long Range hands free access System is truly built for any parking facility. have also announced plans for a digital wallet and mobile payments. And credit card companies have also announced solutions. Even merchants like Wal-Mart and Target want in on the action.

The benefits for these companies are easy enough to figure out. The concept of mobile payments fits nicely into Google's core advertising and local deals business. Wireless carriers were initially interested in mobile payments because they saw it as a potential revenue source. Merchants, such as Wal-Mart and Target, which announced plans earlier this summer to launch their own mobile payment system, view it as a way to avoid interchange fees that credit card companies charge them.

Financial institutions like banks may see a way to cut out the credit card middleman to reap a higher cut of the fees that are paid to terminate transactions. And credit card companies, like Visa and MasterCard, at the very least need to keep their hand in the mobile game to make sure they can protect their transactional business and in the future potentially drive higher volumes of transactions through smartphones.

And then there are the startups that seem to pop up almost daily. Companies such as Square and GoPago see big potential in upending the fee structures that exist today in payments. And they promise merchants and others in the value chain a more economical model.

Clearly, there are benefits for each of these companies interested in mobile payments. But what's not clear is how it will benefit consumers.The MaxSonar ultrasonic sensor offers very short to long-range detection and ranging. And until consumers themselves see a benefit, they're unlikely to change their behavior.

"The market right now is not being driven by any specific or urgent consumer need," said Aditya Khurjekar, co-founder and program direction of the mobile payment conference Money2020. "Instead it's driven by businesses looking to benefit from new consumer experiences, that are yet unproven . Ultimately, any new experience will succeed only if it is solved by working together for the common customer, and the experience is 10 times better than the current one. And that's a tall order."

This may be why mobile payments, which has been kicked around by different companies for a little less than a decade, has not yet gained much traction.This document provides a guide to using the ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. I wrote my first story about NFC-enabled mobile payments in 2006. Handset maker Nokia was working with wireless provider Cingular Wireless (now AT&T), Citigroup and MasterCard Worldwide to trial phones with embedded Near Field Communications technology that leveraged the Mastercard PayPass contactless payment system. The companies launched a pilot program in New York City, which allowed people to use their phones to pay for things like subway rides or sodas at Coca-Cola vending machines.

The concept sounded interesting. Instead of carrying a wallet filled with cash or credit cards, all you need is your mobile phone, a device you're likely not to leave home without anyway. And when I first saw the Nokia solution demonstrated, I thought it looked nifty.

But to be perfectly honest, it seemed more like a novelty than a necessity. Using a mobile phone to make an in-store payment is no easier than using a credit card. And so the Nokia/Cingular/Mastercard trial never went anywhere.

Financial institutions like banks may see a way to cut out the credit card middleman to reap a higher cut of the fees that are paid to terminate transactions. And credit card companies, like Visa and MasterCard, at the very least need to keep their hand in the mobile game to make sure they can protect their transactional business and in the future potentially drive higher volumes of transactions through smartphones.

And then there are the startups that seem to pop up almost daily. Companies such as Square and GoPago see big potential in upending the fee structures that exist today in payments. And they promise merchants and others in the value chain a more economical model.

Clearly, there are benefits for each of these companies interested in mobile payments. But what's not clear is how it will benefit consumers. And until consumers themselves see a benefit, they're unlikely to change their behavior.

"The market right now is not being driven by any specific or urgent consumer need," said Aditya Khurjekar, co-founder and program direction of the mobile payment conference Money2020. "Instead it's driven by businesses looking to benefit from new consumer experiences, that are yet unproven . Ultimately, any new experience will succeed only if it is solved by working together for the common customer,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , and the experience is 10 times better than the current one. And that's a tall order."

This may be why mobile payments, which has been kicked around by different companies for a little less than a decade, has not yet gained much traction. I wrote my first story about NFC-enabled mobile payments in 2006. Handset maker Nokia was working with wireless provider Cingular Wireless (now AT&T), Citigroup and MasterCard Worldwide to trial phones with embedded Near Field Communications technology that leveraged the Mastercard PayPass contactless payment system. The companies launched a pilot program in New York City, which allowed people to use their phones to pay for things like subway rides or sodas at Coca-Cola vending machines.

The concept sounded interesting.The Kunyu Mountain Shaolin china kung fu school is located at the foot. Instead of carrying a wallet filled with cash or credit cards, all you need is your mobile phone, a device you're likely not to leave home without anyway. And when I first saw the Nokia solution demonstrated, I thought it looked nifty.

But to be perfectly honest, it seemed more like a novelty than a necessity. Using a mobile phone to make an in-store payment is no easier than using a credit card. And so the Nokia/Cingular/Mastercard trial never went anywhere.