There were news recently about Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, investing $70 billion in a US based mobile payments company Obopay. And the deal seems to be targeted at developing countries like India where the options to pay online are so limited.
Obopay platform facilitates mobile payments by turning a mobile phone into a sort of debit card which can be used to make payments from cellphones and you mobile number becomes a account number. You can pay through SMSs if you want to purchase services online. The platform links your bank account or cedit card to mobile phone. What is more, there is a system in place which allows you to avail of prepaid services too in case you do not want to link your bank account.
The number of people holding mobile in India is many times more than the those holding credit cards. And with Nokia on the verge of releasing its Ovi store where people can download and rent music, multimedia applications and movies, this investment makes sense. And Nokia is not alone to bring such services. Recently, Vodafone signed a mobile payment deal with Western Union a few months back.
All this indicates that mobile payments may finally be on their way to becoming norm in India.
Obopay platform facilitates mobile payments by turning a mobile phone into a sort of debit card which can be used to make payments from cellphones and you mobile number becomes a account number. You can pay through SMSs if you want to purchase services online. The platform links your bank account or cedit card to mobile phone. What is more, there is a system in place which allows you to avail of prepaid services too in case you do not want to link your bank account.
The number of people holding mobile in India is many times more than the those holding credit cards. And with Nokia on the verge of releasing its Ovi store where people can download and rent music, multimedia applications and movies, this investment makes sense. And Nokia is not alone to bring such services. Recently, Vodafone signed a mobile payment deal with Western Union a few months back.
All this indicates that mobile payments may finally be on their way to becoming norm in India.
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