Mobile commerce (m-commerce) is basically an extension of e-commerce on the mobile phone which enables consumers to make payments for goods and services directly from their mobile phones. This gives the consumer the benefit of making payments from anywhere without the hassle of physically being present at a store, standing in a line or turning on a PC to transact online.

Mophie,  popular iPhone and iPod accessory and battery add-on maker, will unveil at Consumer Electronic Show  in Las Vegas this month its iPhone credit card reader and third-party app .

Accessory, named “Credit Card Reader” along with a complimentary third party processing application will allow iPhone users to accept credit payments by swiping their credit cards through a special casing attached to their mobile phone.

The device, which will turn any iPhone into a credit card reader, will be a direct competitor to Square, which is developed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

Mophie’s credit card reader will compete with other electronic payment solutions such as Swipe ($0.99 on iTunes App Store), VeriFone’s PAYware Mobile, Intuit’s GoPayment and Square.

VeriFone Holdings, Inc., (NYSE: PAY) today announced PAYware Mobile, a complete payment solution for the Apple iPhone that provides small businesses with simple and secure card processing capabilities on the popular smartphone platform.

VeriFone’s payment solution for the iPhone (www.paywaremobile.com) puts mainstream payment processing capabilities in the hands of small business merchants who need a mobile card acceptance solution for enterprises such as home repair, small cafes, door-to-door sales, or virtually any other type of business. The hardware and software solution will begin shipping January 15 and is available free to those who sign up for a PAYware Mobile secure gateway service agreement.

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MasterCard today announced the introduction of the MasterCard Mobile Payments Gateway, a mobile payments processing platform that enables financial institutions and mobile network operators to deliver end-to-end mobile payments solutions through the MasterCard Worldwide Network.

Itau Unibanco and Redecard, along with mobile network operator Vivo, will be the first to use the MasterCard Mobile Payments Gateway to deliver mobile payment solutions to the banks’ customers in Brazil. The service will give consumers the ability to use their phone as a mobile wallet and link their existing credit, debit or prepaid MasterCard or Maestro card accounts to their mobile phone to fund mobile-initiated payments.

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Gartner predicts the number of mobile payment users worldwide will hit 73.4 million by 2009 and 190 million by 2012. This represents a tremendous percentage of total cell phone users (Gartner estimates upwards of 3% of the total user base) and companies must consider this technology as a potential payment channel comparable with checks, cash and electronic funds transfers.

Retailers First Adopters of Mobile Payments

The benefits of mobile payment solutions for retailers are obvious. The ability to accept credit card payments or mobile payments on a wireless device such as a smartphone enables retailers to create a host of new, innovative and engaging retail platforms. “Pop-Up Retail,” a term coined by Trendwatching.com, is a temporary retail space designed to quickly draw in crowds in high traffic areas then disappear once buzz wanes. Think fairs, concerts and other outdoor venues with massive crowd attendance. Because these events have limited time durations the expense of creating a permanent retail space (and the infrastructure to support it like phone and internet lines) is prohibitive.

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Nokia has introduced Nokia Money – a new mobile service operated in conjunction with Obopay – calling it “a new mobile financial service offering consumers with mobile device access to basic financial services. For many consumers, this will be the first time they have had any access to such financial services.”

According to the company, “Nokia Money has been designed to be as simple and convenient as making a voice call or sending an SMS. It will enable consumers to send money to another person just by using the person’s mobile phone number, as well as to pay merchants for goods and services, pay their utility bills, or recharge their prepaid SIM cards (SIM top-up). The services can be accessed 24 hours a day from anywhere, meaning savings in travel costs and time. Nokia is building a wide network of Nokia Money agents, where consumers can deposit money in or withdraw cash from their accounts.”

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