M-Pesa: Kenya’s mobile wallet revolution

“In the developed world mobile payments are made using slightly different technology, so typically we’re looking at mobile payments on the web, payments for goods and services onto your bill, or we’re looking at premium rate SMS payment.”

Mobile payment online is fairly well-established, but what has really pushed the technology mainstream is the success of smart phones.

“We’ve seen the launch of PayPal’s app enabling you to send money from person to person.

“Those sorts of payments are going to be more social payments, sharing the cost of a meal for example, or paying someone a small amount of money you might owe them that by bumping your iPhones together.

One company that does let you pay with your mobile is Boku.

They provide the mechanism to allow, for example, people to buy virtual money to use in games on social networking sites like Facebook. European managing director James Patmore says they are looking to capitalise on how easy it is to use a mobile phone as a payment mechanism.

“All the consumer needs to have is a mobile phone with either a pre-paid account or post-paid account, and the ability to remember their telephone number.”

Users don’t have to be registered to use the service, which takes payment from either pay as you go credit or your carrier, with a limit on how much you can spend each day.

The company operates in 65 countries, with customers typically spending less than $10 (£6.30) per transaction.