Expert advice

On the subject of mobile phone payment

by Cédric Morel-Guilloux, Project Director for the E-secure Transactions Competitiveness Cluster

"At the dawn of the massive deployment of NFC mobiles and services in France and in many other European countries, with the spotlight focusing particularly on London on the occasion of the 2012 Olympic Games, YouGov consultants have conducted a survey on the subject of mobile payment among some 350,000 British consumers. The results are to be taken with a good dose of humility: 70% of questioned participants admit they have never heard of mobile payment, whereas 91% are oblivious to NFC technology. Only 5% state that they are willing to change their mobile phone in order to benefit from the functions offered by NFC. Yet, not a day goes by without the announcement of a pilot study conducted in real-life conditions, a new usage tested, trade agreements towards large-scale deployment or rumours on the availability (or lack) of NFC in the next version of the Iphone or Galaxy S2...

With such results, we are now heading straight for a new phase - not of industrialisation - but of education.  Tomorrow's pilot studies need to be presented as learning tools rather than technological feats. Marketers are being offered virgin territory where they can develop, test and deploy their technology and communication techniques in an aim to transforming the novice user into a seasoned consumer.

And what if the 3 letters N.F.C. in fact stood for "New Fashions for Consumers"?

Another result should be taken into account: half (51%) of questioned participants expect Apple to make the first move... after all it's true that the firm has revolutionised the use of mobile phones and their place in modern society. This reaction, which although perfectly understandable, could well come to irritate that tiny chauvinistic corner of the French brain and, for the most sensitive, even lead to a certain exasperation at seeing the history of French innovation repeating itself:  how many French inventions do we "buy back" from the other side of the Atlantic...
Thankfully, the TES cluster's member companies are refusing to succumb to such a fatalistic view and are striving, day after day, to bring consumer usage, simplicity, utility and benefit to the forefront of priority concerns, hence preparing this market which - although as yet emerging - promises to offer a multitude of prospects for employment, growth and future potential.

The conference entitled, "US meet Europe", held in Paris on the 22nd of June in partnership with Bay Pay, together with the participation of TES cluster members at the Futur en Seine in Issy les Moulineaux from the 23rd to the 27th of June, are they not both perfect illustrations? »