“Following Nokia’s investment into Obopay in 2008, the company announced at the Mobile World Congress 2010 this week that they started a commercial pilot with Yes Bank in Pune, India as part of its Nokia Money initiative. This announcement augments recent news by mobile money stakeholders about enabling Mobile Payments for both banked and unbanked segments of society. Nokia’s commercial pilot with Yes Bank allows for easy transfer of money by using the person’s mobile phone number, to pay utility bills and also the standard function of charging prepaid SIMs. In Frost & Sullivan’s Mobile Payment study released October 2009, we expressed optimism that Nokia’s mobile money initiatives can accelerate wider mobile payments adoption. Besides Nokia’s push into the NFC enabled devices front, its open platform initiatives overcome interoperability issues but also accelerate the progress towards simplifying the eco-system.
"We reiterate that market conditions in Eastern Europe are conducive for Mobile Money. As payment trends in this region have always been different from other parts of Europe, there is a natural demand from financial institutions to offer different payment options to its customers. This motivation from financial institutions, coupled with the enthusiastic embrace of mobile payments by the telecoms industry, could generate interesting success stories in this region. In Poland, there have been innovative banking products ranging from payWave products to NFC enabled payment stickers, to mobile payment for public transportation via SMS. A clear trend emerges from such examples in Poland – uptake in Mobile Money will be driven by high frequency and low-value transactions supported by widespread, cashless transaction systems that are cost effective and secure.”