We might think that we are awfully high and mighty in the technology stakes here in good old Blighty, but it seems that South America is one step ahead of the curve in comparison to the rest of the Western world when it comes to mobile payments.
Reuters is reporting that Mexico’s banks are claiming that Mexicans will soon be able to use their mobiles to pay for small purchases such as restaurant bills and taxi fares. Mobile carriers Telefonica and Iusacell are teaming up with banks such as Citigroup Inc and BBVA to launch the service in the next couple of months, which is being aimed squarely at tech savvy teenagers.
Similar payment systems have been available in Japan and Korea for a while now, but so far there haven’t been any mobile carriers in the US or Europe that have made any meaningful progress towards launching a comprehensive mobile payment service. Look’s like we’ll have to do things the old fashioned way for the time being, and by old fashioned we mean chip and pin, which has been around for all of four years.
Doesn’t tech move fast these days – wheee!
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About Fraser MacInnes
Mexico is not South America, it is North America, (Canada, United States and Mexico. And we all americans, you know.