Tag: nfc technology

Australian mobile commerce app runs into trouble

Australia’s Commonwealth Bank recently released its CommBank mobile application that was meant to usher in a new era of mobile commerce throughout the country. The application, however, may not be able to accomplish such an ambitious task because of its use of NFC technology and the fact that it is available specifically for the Samsung Galaxy S4. While NFC has formed the backbone of mobile commerce for some years, the technology is not widely available on mobile devices, making it difficult for many consumers to take advantage of NFC-enabled applications.

Consumers have trouble getting app to work properly

NFC-dependance is not the only problem that the CommBank app has had to deal with. Even users with Galaxy S4 devices have been reporting a great deal of frustration when trying to get the application working properly. According to many consumers, initiating a mobile payment using the application is quite difficult. Moreover, before the application can be used, consumers must input their financial information, such as a credit card number. The application is often unable to store this information or consumers have found great difficulty in actually linking this information to the application itself.

Mobile commerce continues to contend with problems

Mobile commerce in general has been beset by technical problems for nearly as long as it has existed as a concept. Applications designed as commerce platforms are not perfect and glitches in these platform’s abilities to retain information are somewhat common. Hastily developed applications are more susceptible to failure that those that have been in development for prolonged periods of time, but any kind of application that offers lackluster service can provide consumers with a poor experience.

Consumers run into issues when purchasing from retailers

The CommBank application is also being beset by some unforeseeable problems. Some consumers have reported that retail employees have denied accepting mobile payments, simply because these employees are not yet acclimated to the idea of paying for products using a mobile device. Awareness is often a problem when it comes to the adoption of new technology and unforeseeable issues concerning awareness are difficult to prepare for.

Only just launched in April 2012, the service is going to be abandoned on March 31, 2014.

O2, a mobile network operator in the United Kingdom, has announced its intentions to shut down its mobile wallet service as of the end of March, this year, after only two years of operation.

The service offered a number of different features to its users through their smartphones and tablets.

Among the services available through this mobile wallet was smartphone and tablet based shopping, money transfer and offer services. Moreover, it also included a Visa contactless card and the tracking of transactions. It was originally intended to be one of the services that would be broadening to include the use of NFC technology among its supported tech.

The O2 mobile wallet was among the very first to enter into this part of the smartphone payments space.

A statement released by the carrier said that when they started the service in 2012 they were one of the first around. However, it also added that “Since then lots has changed for us, the market and our customers. So, we’ve decided to close the O2 Wallet to give us time to look into new and better ways to help people manage their money on the move, both in the UK and abroad.”

They did express that the journey itself has been exciting one for the company and it thanked those who took part in it. They also added that “it’s not over yet” and that they will be making other announcements regarding new innovations that would be occurring into the future.

They did want to make it clear that after the end of March, this year, consumers who had previously using the O2 mobile wallet service would no longer be able to do so, nor would they have access to the O2 Money Account Card. This also includes being able to send or receive the service’s Money Messages and being able to use the card or wallet for shopping. Moreover, train tickets will not be purchased through the app and cell phone top ups will also not be available.