The Pros And Cons Of Mobile Payment Systems

It has been a long time since mobile payments have been around but only in the last year they have found wide use in making payments to buy different products or access services. But is it really safe to use mobile payments rather than physical payments? Is it safe to use your mobile for a payment and not a check or credit card.?

We have seen the biggest companies developing their own mobile payment systems. Until now the most used mobile payment systems are Apple Pay, Google Wallet and SoftCard developed by three of the leading wireless providers: AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. Even though exists three mobile payments services, they all have the same intention to make paying easy using your mobile phone.

But is it really easy to pay using your mobile rather than using a credit card. Check pros and cons below and do not hesitate to give us your opinion.

Pros Of Mobile Payments

• Security

The biggest fear when you make a payment with credit card is that someone can steal you information and then can access your account. Mobile Payments have proven to be more secure than the traditional credit cards. It’s more secure because the retailer’s system don’t have direct access to the cardholders’ account number. This mean that the point-of-sale malware doesn’t work.

• No POS Stations

Recently retailers have started experiencing with mobile payments kiosks. They mount them around the retail floor. To avoid long lines customers can use their mobile phone and pay from anywhere.

• Speed

Mobile Payments are fast. Especially the latest NFC technology is very fast when it comes to make a payment using your mobile device. You simply have to pass your device over a NFC (Near-Field Communication) reader which is connected to a POS system and you are done. Some systems might require entering a password or a PIN but mostly are just scan and go.

• Safe and Tested Overseas

People in countries like Japan, Hong Kong, Kenya and more have been using mobile payment technology for more than a decade. During this time no one has reposted about issues about the system and all the customers are satisfied with the mobile payment system.

• Less Cards To Carry Around

Instead of having your wallet full of credit cards, you simply can carry on your identification card and your mobile device. You can pay for anything with that.

Cons Of Mobile Payments

• Cost

To accept mobile payments are needed some hardware. They requires additional POS hardware and NFC readers that are not cheap. If you are a retailer and you haven’t upgrade yet, probably you will need to do it the next year due to the changes to the credit card system. Due to these changes the cost of a NFC reader and all the needed hardware might be cheaper than now.

• Mobile Hardware Incompatibility

Not all mobile payment systems work with all mobile hardware. Most of the older smartphones lack NFC capabilities and it’s hard to do a payment.

• Different Systems

Until now there are only three major companies that offer mobile payment service and plethora of small ones. Some systems need NFC reader while the other use only barcodes. Only few retailers offer their branded mobile wallets that keep funds from gift cards.

• Rewards

We have to admit that mostly of mobile wallets don’t give customers the same rewards as scanning the credit cards. Let’s take and example. Google Wallet sets up a Master Card debit account which charges the Customer’s credit card on the bank. So if the customer has a credit card that gives him doubles of points for shopping at the same retailer. If they use Google Wallet they will not get the reward since the money are charged by Google and not the retailer. Rewards are something that everyone likes.