Towards a Universal Mobile Payments System

Abstract

The shift of payments’ market from cash and paper-based payment means to electronic solutions has led to many changes in the last decades. In today’s market we see mobile devices being able to fulfill the role of a digital wallet and consequently organizations offering solutions to the market. Despite the steep growth of mobile device usage rates, mobile payments still show low diffusion rates. Numerous different solutions are introduced but incompatibility among them does not help in reaching high levels of users’ adoption. In our research we address the payments market through a literature and market review in order to understand the way Mobile Payments fit in. We create an ecosystem view and depict the associated stakeholders. We address the matter of diffusion suggesting the introduction of a Universal Mobile Payments System. In order to understand how today market could be driven towards such a platform we examine two existing solutions by addressing each case’s business model design issues.