Payforit

A great idea for mobile payments has been typically cocked up by the mobile networks money-grabbing approach.

What is Payforit
In short, it is a Wap-based mobile payment system. It works in a similar way to Premium SMS by deducting a payment off the user's phone bill, but is triggered via a wap site, rather than an SMS.

There are two key advantages of Payforit:
A simple click that can be built into a WAP browsing experience
Payments for up to £10 can be taken

This is exactly the kind of thing that I would love to include in our mobile content management platform, immedia24.com

However there are downsides:
The number of mobile users with WAP is small - the latest figures from text.it show WAP browsing levels at around 27% in the UK.
The cost to merchants of offering payforit and the amount that the networks take from each payment.

This last point is the one that will prevent Payforit from being truely ubiquitous. In terms of setting up as a merchant I have been quoted between £250 per month and £1500 per month depending on who you ask. For a new payment system in a relatively new market this is nothing short of outragous. Who would be in a position to risk this, apart from large brands with money to burn?
Similarly the networks are taking a similar chunk of money to Premium SMS - it varies according to the amount taken, but merchants will see little more than 50 or 60% of the payment value after VAT and Network charges.

Compare this to online payments systems such as Paypal or Google checkout, as you will see that they take a relatively small fee for transactions. Even online credit card processors such as Worldpay or Protx charge a small amount each month to their users.

Once again, the networks just don't get it. All they have to do is charge a small amount per transaction and the Payforit system will become a genuine mobile payment system for all.