TORONTO – We’ve seen e-commerce, t-commerce and plain old commerce, but thanks to an intiative by the country’s big three wireless operators, we’re about to see m-commerce.
Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless and Telus Mobility, today announced the launch of Wireless Payment Services. The jointly-owned venture “will act as a mobile commerce, or m-commerce, gateway, facilitating secure wireless payment transactions while standardizing the user experience across Canadian wireless providers, devices and payment mechanisms,” says today’s press release.
"With anytime, anywhere payments representing the next frontier of wireless service, Wireless Payment Services’ mandate is to develop standardized, secure and easy-to-use mobile payment capabilities that work with existing debit and credit capabilities offered by Canada’s financial institutions and across all national Canadian wireless carriers," said Jeff Chorlton, president of Wireless Payment Services.
The new company “is working to commercialize a mobile commerce service in Canada within the next year. Phase one of the project will allow prepaid wireless users to buy additional minutes on their existing accounts with their debit or credit cards. Unlike existing mobile payment solutions, which require new payment methods or additional hardware, this solution will extend access to payment methods already widely used by Canadian consumers and merchants over commonly adopted wireless devices,” adds the press release.
Phase two of the project will look at additional opportunities for wireless users to make purchases using their mobile phones.
Wireless Payment Services’ structure is based on the success of the inter-carrier text and multimedia messaging and Wi-Fi Hotspot services developed in concert by Canada’s carriers. Joint initiatives such as these allow efficiencies to be gained in development, while encouraging increased competition between the wireless providers.
"The ability of Canada’s wireless carriers to cooperate on the development of common, inter-carrier services has been a driving factor both in the adoption of new wireless services and in increased competition in the marketplace," added Peter Barnes, president and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA). "Today’s announcement of the true mobile commerce solutions being developed by Wireless Payment Services demonstrates again that Canada’s wireless carriers are willing and able to work together to ensure the timely delivery of innovative new services to wireless users across Canada."
