Editing Mobile payment (section)

{{short description|Payment services via a mobile device}}
{{hatnote|"Mobile money" redirects here. For the payment platform, see [[Mobile Money]]}}
{{use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Ecommerce}}
{{Banking|transfer}}

'''Mobile payment''', also referred to as '''mobile money''', '''mobile money transfer''' and '''mobile wallet''', is any of various [[payment]] processing services operated under [[financial regulation]]s and performed from or via a mobile device. Instead of paying with [[cash]], [[cheque]], or [[credit card]], a consumer can use a '''payment app''' on a mobile device to pay for a wide range of services and digital or hard goods. Although the concept of using non-coin-based currency systems has a long history,<ref>{{cite web |date=20 August 2012 |title=Pre-1900 Utopian Visions of the 'Cashless Society' |url=https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/40780/ |publisher=MPRA |access-date=22 September 2012 |archive-date=8 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608215833/https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/40780/|url-status=live}}</ref> it is only in the 21st century that the technology to support such systems has become widely available.

Mobile payments began adoption in [[Japan]] in the 2000s and later all over the world in different ways.<ref>{{cite web |title=GSMA Mobile Money Deployment Tracker |url=http://www.wirelessintelligence.com/mobile-money |publisher=Wireless Intelligence |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123155552/http://www.wirelessintelligence.com/mobile-money|archive-date=23 November 2011|access-date=23 June 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=12 November 2010 |title=Japanese Drive Mobile Payment Market |url=http://www.ericsson.com/ericsson/corpinfo/publications/telecomreport/archive/2006/january/valista.shtml |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060315011029/http://www.ericsson.com/ericsson/corpinfo/publications/telecomreport/archive/2006/january/valista.shtml|archive-date=15 March 2006 |publisher=Ericsson|access-date=19 September 2011}}</ref> The first [[patent]] exclusively defined "Mobile Payment System" was filed in 2000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mobile payment system |date=11 December 2000 |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US20020073027A1/en |access-date=8 June 2018|archive-date=23 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323232840/https://patents.google.com/patent/US20020073027A1/en|url-status=live}}</ref>

In a [[developing country]], mobile payment solutions can be deployed as a means of extending services of [[financial institution]]s to the community known as the "[[unbanked]]" or "[[underbanked]]", which is estimated to be as much as 50 percent of the world's adult population, according to the Financial Access 2009 Report "Half the World is Unbanked".<ref>{{cite web |title=Half the World is Unbanked |url=http://www.financialaccess.org/sites/default/files/publications/Half-the-World-is-Unbanked.pdf |year=2009 |publisher=Financial Access Organization |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141222020037/http://www.financialaccess.org/sites/default/files/publications/Half-the-World-is-Unbanked.pdf|archive-date=22 December 2014}}</ref> Such payment networks are often used for [[micropayment]]s.<ref>[http://www.infodev.org/files/3014_file_infoDev.Report_m_Commerce_January.2006.pdf ''Micro-payment systems and their application to mobile networks'', InfoDev report]</ref> The use of mobile payments in developing countries has attracted public and private funding by organizations such as the [[Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation]], the [[United States Agency for International Development]], and [[Mercy Corps]].{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Mobile payments are becoming a key instrument for [[payment service provider]]s (PSPs) and other market participants, in order to achieve new growth opportunities, according to the [[European Payments Council]] (EPC).<ref>{{cite web |date=2016 |title=White Paper on Mobile Payments |url=http://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/?LinkServID=0D2E976F-5056-B741-DBA164AA7689AAE9 |publisher=European Payments Council |access-date=2 February 2017|archive-date=5 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805130536/https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/?LinkServID=0D2E976F-5056-B741-DBA164AA7689AAE9|url-status=live}}</ref> The EPC states that "new technology solutions provide a direct improvement to the operations efficiency, ultimately resulting in cost savings and in an increase in business volume".