Nokia launches new m-payment solution

In view of the expected volume of mobile commerce (m-commerce) transactions in the Asia Pacific region, Nokia launched the Nokia Payment Solution, a new solution for mobile e-commerce. Operators and service providers in this region will be able to enjoy a smooth and easy evolution as they expand their business with rapidly growing mobile e-commerce services.

This Solution was showcased at the Nokia Technology Summit 2001, "Connecting to the Rhythm of Life" in Sydney Australia, and will be commercially available for markets during the third quarter, 2001.

The Nokia Payment Solution enables payment service providers to mediate payments between three main parties of mobile e-commerce: financial institutions, merchants and consumers.

It is a platform that collects, manages and clears payments initiated from mobile phones and other web-enabled terminals through various payment methods, such as credit and debit cards, operator's pre-paid or post-paid systems, and a virtual purse. The virtual purse is an integrated pre-paid account of Nokia's Payment Solution that can be used with specific applications, such as mobile games.

"After person-to-person messaging, mCommerce follows as the next important service offering as operators continue to build up their value-added business," said Jyrki Halttunen, Vice President, Mobile Internet Applications, Nokia Networks Asia Pacific. "This solution ensures the flexible and secure authentication of payers without sacrificing the user-friendliness of services. Above all, new applications and services evolving towards 3G can also be easily integrated with the solution," he added.

The Nokia Payment Solution will allow users of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) and web-enabled terminals to initiate and control payments for digital content, services, and goods.

The solution will not only enable remote payments from mobile terminals, but also allows local payments. Typical examples of local payment with mobile phones are vending machines or parking fees.

Remote payments can consist of anything from electronic bill payment and shopping to mobile games, ticketing, auctioning and music downloading. Users can choose their preferred payment method according to their individual and personalised needs, may it be for micro-and/or macropayments.

In the initial phase, the Nokia Payment Solution is a network independent, server based solution supporting web access and WAP 1.1 and 1.2 specifications. The solution will evolve with the 3rd generation mobile e-commerce applications, such as session-based streaming.

Nokia Payment Solution will include the Merchant Tool Kit, which enables content providers and merchants to price digital content and physical goods sold in the mobile Internet.