NFC Options for Banks

In response to the blog about "Google partners Citi and MasterCard on NFC m-payments", I thought I would give you my thoughts on the NFC options that are out there.

It might only be Citi for now, but I suspect all of the major banks are looking at this.

There are effectively 3 ways of achieving NFC in your phone/mobile device and each has its own pro's and con's for the bank, the Telco and the handset manufacturer. It goes without saying that each will want a slice of the lucrative paymenst market.

Option 1: Build it into the handset

This works well, but limits you to a specific handset, or at least a limited range of them. This is the one the handset manufacturers will push.

Option 2: Build it into the SIM

Now here the Telco operator will win. Put their SIM into any phone and it will work with NFC and you are not limited to what the manufacturer can provide.

Option 3:A sperate memory card

Have a seperate memory card with this capability built in. Well, this allows the most flexibility for the banks and card operators, works with the vast majority of the phones and doesn't need the Telco or the Manufacturer to agree. This is likely to be favourite with the banks. Oh, and it won't work on an iPhone - no slot...

What will the banks go for?

To be fair, the banks will probably support all of the above as a going in position. What the market does over time is anyones guess, but with the might of Google, Apple and lets not forget Microsoft, behind this it won't be static.