MasterCard expects smart phones to ease bill payment

The company believes Thailand will adopt the mobile payment technology called near-field communication (NFC) soon in response to this trend.
Philip Yen, group head for emerging payments, Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa, said NFC made payments quickly at retail points of sale. Mobile-phone users simply download the application into card readers and tap “pay”. This technology is suitable for small retail outlets because the NFC machine is smaller than an electronic data capture (EDC) device.
MasterCard will encourage merchant partners, especially small businesses, to accept payments through NFC technology.
Singapore and Malaysia are two countries in the region that have implemented NFC mobile payment technology.
Yen said NFC would be available in Thailand once banks are ready to set up infrastructure to link with the technology. The company believes this won’t take long given the growing use of smart phones. A recent MasterCard survey found that Thailand leads Southeast Asia’s growth in online and mobile purchasing. with 80 per cent?? Of what?? for online shopping.
The survey conducted between December 5 and February 6 asked 7,373 respondents from 14 markets in the Asia-Pacific region about their online shopping habits. It showed that even though most respondents said they would rather use their laptop for shopping, the mobile phone is rising rapidly as the device of choice for Asian shoppers in emerging markets.
Thailand topped the survey in the number of people who use mobile phones for shopping, followed by China and Vietnam. Among the reasons given for using mobiles for shopping are convenience and the growing availability of applications.
To cash in on the trend of mobile shopping, MasterCard says it will continually develop innovative payment methods to ensure simplicity, convenience and security for online consumers.
Yen said the company’s goal was to reduce cash payments and develop system security for customers.
Gregg Hirano, vice president and Thailand country manager of MasterCard Worldwide, said about 20 per cent of new mobile-device purchases in Thailand were smart phones.
He said that even though bill payments via mobile phones were increasing, credit-card use remained strong. Mobile payment is an alternative for busy customers.
It was recently estimated that 5 million smart phones will be sold in Thailand this year, while the number of tablet users is expected to exceed a million, up from about 500,000 last year.