Editing Smartphone (section)

===Mobile banking and payment===
{{main|Mobile banking|Mobile payment}}
{{see also|Branchless banking|Contactless payment}}
[[File:Mobile payment 03.JPG|thumb|Mobile payment system.]]
In many countries, mobile phones are used to provide [[mobile banking]] services, which may include the ability to transfer cash payments by secure SMS text message. Kenya's [[M-PESA]] mobile banking service, for example, allows customers of the mobile phone operator [[Safaricom]] to hold cash balances which are recorded on their SIM cards. Cash can be deposited or withdrawn from M-PESA accounts at Safaricom retail outlets located throughout the country and can be transferred electronically from person to person and used to pay bills to companies.

[[Branchless banking]] has been successful in South Africa and the [[Philippines]]. A pilot project in [[Bali]] was launched in 2011 by the [[International Finance Corporation]] and an [[Indonesia]]n bank, [[Bank Mandiri]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/03/01/branchless-banking-start-bali.html |title=Branchless banking to start in Bali |newspaper=The Jakarta Post |date=13 April 2012 |access-date=4 June 2012}}</ref>

Another application of mobile banking technology is [[Zidisha]], a US-based nonprofit micro-lending platform that allows residents of developing countries to raise small business loans from Web users worldwide. Zidisha uses mobile banking for loan disbursements and repayments, transferring funds from lenders in the United States to borrowers in rural Africa who have mobile phones and can use the Internet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.microfinancefocus.com/news/2010/02/07/zidisha-set-to-expand-in-peer-to-peer-microfinance-julia-kurnia/ |title="Zidisha Set to "Expand" in Peer-to-Peer Microfinance", Microfinance Focus, Feb 2010 |publisher=Microfinancefocus.com |date=7 February 2010 |access-date=4 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921054251/http://www.microfinancefocus.com/news/2010/02/07/zidisha-set-to-expand-in-peer-to-peer-microfinance-julia-kurnia |archive-date=21 September 2012 }}</ref>

Mobile payments were first trialled in Finland in 1998 when two Coca-Cola vending machines in [[Espoo]] were enabled to work with SMS payments. Eventually, the idea spread and in 1999, the Philippines launched the country's first commercial mobile payments systems with mobile operators [[Globe Telecom|Globe]] and [[Smart Communications|Smart]].

Some mobile phones can make [[mobile payment]]s via direct mobile billing schemes, or through [[contactless payment]]s if the phone and the [[point of sale]] support [[near-field communication]] (NFC).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.banktech.com/blog/archives/2007/06/mobile_payments.html |title=Mobile Payments: Look to Korea |author=Feig, Nancy |publisher=banktech.com |date=25 June 2007 |access-date=29 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100326155917/http://www.banktech.com/blog/archives/2007/06/mobile_payments.html |archive-date=26 March 2010 }}</ref> Enabling contactless payments through NFC-equipped mobile phones requires the co-operation of manufacturers, network operators, and retail merchants.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://connectedplanetonline.com/mobile-apps/news/nfc-mobile-phone-explode-1110/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124001632/http://connectedplanetonline.com/mobile-apps/news/nfc-mobile-phone-explode-1110/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 January 2010 |title=NFC mobile phone set to explode |author=Ready, Sarah |publisher=connectedplanetonline.com |date=10 November 2009 |access-date=29 January 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://gigaom.com/mobile/visa-testing-nfc-memory-cards-for-wireless-payments/ |title=VISA Testing NFC Memory Cards for Wireless Payments |author=Tofel, Kevin C. |publisher=gigaom.com |date=20 August 2010 |access-date=21 January 2011 |archive-date=June 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621023021/http://gigaom.com/mobile/visa-testing-nfc-memory-cards-for-wireless-payments/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>