Analysis of roles and position of mobile network operators in mobile payment infrastructure

A number of different mobile payment solutions have been presented the last decade. The phone subscription with its security mechanisms are used for user identification and payments. This is the case for SMS based payment and ticketing systems that are getting more and more popular. However, there are other ways to implement a Trusted Element (TE) , where a SIM card architecture is only one. It can be in the mobile phone, as a separate integrated circuit, as an optional customer deployed plug-in device (e.g., microSD) or be running as an application on a server existing entirely as software. In this paper we analyze what roles and responsibilities different actors have in different types of mobile payments solutions. The main focus is on the implications for the mobile operator business. It turns out that new types of intermediary actors in most cases play an important role. Sometimes mobile operators are not even involved. The emergence of new payment together with other non-SIM card based TE solutions opens up for many different market scenarios for mobile payment services. --

Unpacking the ERP investment decision: An empirical assessment of the benefits and risks

This paper presents the results of a survey conducted amongst European retailers on their plans and perceptions with regard to novel applications based on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. Whilst the survey showed that retailers did evaluate the possible applications differently, none of them clearly stood out as the most beneficial one. NFC based services were on average conceded to be able to accelerate the checkout process at the point-of-sale. This is an important acknowledgment, as 65% of the respondents consider waiting lines which can occur at the checkout to hold the largest potential for an improvement of their customers’ shopping experience. While the rate of agreement is somewhat smaller than in the case of process acceleration, retailers also concede that NFC applications could make shopping more convenient for their customers. On the other hand, none of the NFC-based applications seemed to yield cost saving potentials to the responding retailers. The most surprising result of the survey was the respondents’ low expectations in regards to customer acceptance. This is in clear contrast to the reports on NFC trials which generally describe participants as enthusiastic about the technology

Keep Your Nice Friends Close, but Your Rich Friends Closer -- Computation Offloading Using NFC

The increasing complexity of smartphone applications and services necessitate high battery consumption but the growth of smartphones' battery capacity is not keeping pace with these increasing power demands. To overcome this problem, researchers gave birth to the Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) research area. In this paper we advance on previous ideas, by proposing and implementing the first known Near Field Communication (NFC)-based computation offloading framework. This research is motivated by the advantages of NFC's short distance communication, with its better security, and its low battery consumption. We design a new NFC communication protocol that overcomes the limitations of the default protocol; removing the need for constant user interaction, the one-way communication restraint, and the limit on low data size transfer. We present experimental results of the energy consumption and the time duration of two computationally intensive representative applications: (i) RSA key generation and encryption, and (ii) gaming/puzzles. We show that when the helper device is more powerful than the device offloading the computations, the execution time of the tasks is reduced. Finally, we show that devices that offload application parts considerably reduce their energy consumption due to the low-power NFC interface and the benefits of offloading.Comment: 9 pages, 4 tables, 13 figure

Near Field Communication: From theory to practice

This book provides the technical essentials, state-of-the-art knowledge, business ecosystem and standards of Near Field Communication (NFC)by NFC Lab - Istanbul research centre which conducts intense research on NFC technology. In this book, the authors present the contemporary research on all aspects of NFC, addressing related security aspects as well as information on various business models. In addition, the book provides comprehensive information a designer needs to design an NFC project, an analyzer needs to analyze requirements of a new NFC based system, and a programmer needs to implement an application. Furthermore, the authors introduce the technical and administrative issues related to NFC technology, standards, and global stakeholders. It also offers comprehensive information as well as use case studies for each NFC operating mode to give the usage idea behind each operating mode thoroughly. Examples of NFC application development are provided using Java technology, and security considerations are discussed in detail. Key Features: Offers a complete understanding of the NFC technology, including standards, technical essentials, operating modes, application development with Java, security and privacy, business ecosystem analysis Provides analysis, design as well as development guidance for professionals from administrative and technical perspectives Discusses methods, techniques and modelling support including UML are demonstrated with real cases Contains case studies such as payment, ticketing, social networking and remote shopping This book will be an invaluable guide for business and ecosystem analysts, project managers, mobile commerce consultants, system and application developers, mobile developers and practitioners. It will also be of interest to researchers, software engineers, computer scientists, information technology specialists including students and graduates.Publisher's Versio

Near Field Communication: Technology and Market Trends

Among the different hi-tech content domains, the telecommunications industry is one of the most relevant, in particular for the Italian economy. Moreover, Near Field Communication (NFC) represents an example of innovative production and a technological introduction in the telecommunications context. It has a threefold function: card emulator, peer-to-peer communication and digital content access, and it could be pervasively integrated in many different domains, especially in the mobile payment one. The increasing attention on NFC technology from the academic community has improved an analysis on the changes and the development perspective about mobile payments. It has considered the work done by the GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communications Association) and the NFC Forum in recent years. This study starts from an analysis of the scientific contributions to Near Field Communication and how the main researches on this topic were conceived. Our focus is on the diffusion rates, the adoption rates and the technology life cycle. After that, we analyze the technical-economical elements of NFC. Finally, this work presents the state of art of the improvements to this technology with a deeper focus on NFC technologies applied to the tourism industry. In this way, we have done a case analysis that shows some of the NFC existent applications linked to each stage of the tourism value chain

Mobile payments: moving towards a wallet in the cloud?

This article deals with mobile payments in developed countries. Even though it only accounts for a relatively small share of the market (between 10% and 20%), mobile payment merits in-depth analysis in developed countries as there are many economic and technological issues that still need to be addressed.mobile payments, NFC

Near Field Communication

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a technology that enables a device to communicate with another at a maximum distance of around 20cm or less. Currently, mobile phone manufacturers, banking institutions and mobile network providers are attempting to apply this technology to Smartphones and other handheld devices because of the opportunity to enable the consumer to use commercial services more easily. This paper discusses the expected increase in mobile payments using Near Field Communication, possible uses and the risks associated with carrying out transactions over a wireless network. We also discuss a real world implementation of an NFC based loyalty card system for retail.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v2i3.23

Near Field Communication Applications

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a short-range, low power contactless communication between NFC-enabled devices that are held in the closed proximity to each other. NFC technology has been moving rapidly from its initial application areas of mobile payment services and contactless ticketing to the diversity of new areas. Three specific NFC tags highlighted in the thesis have different structures in terms of memory, security and usage in different applications. NFC information tags exploit the data exchange format NDEF standardized by NFC Forum. NFC applications are rapidly stepping into novel and diverse application areas. Often they are deployed in combination with different devices and systems through their integrability and adaptability features. The diverse application areas where NFC tags and cards are used cover smart posters, contactless ticketing, keys and access control, library services, entertainment services, social network services, education, location based services, work force and retail management and healthcare. In designing different NFC applications, it is necessary to take into consideration different design issues such as to choosing the NFC tools and devices according to the technical requirements of the application, considering especially the memory, security and price factors as well as their relation to the purpose and usage of the final product. The security aspect of the NFC tags is remarkably important in selecting the proper NFC device. The race between hackers attacking and breaking the security systems of programmable high level products and manufacturers to produce reliable secure systems and products seems to never end. This has proven to be case, for example, for trying MIFARE Ultralight and DESFire MF3ICD40 tags. An important consideration of studying the different applications of NFC tags and cards during the thesis work was to understand the ubiquitous character of NFC technology.Lähitunnistus yhteys tekniikka (NFC) on lyhyen tähtäimen, pienitehoinen, kontaktiton yhteydenpito NFC yhteensopivien laitteiden välillä, jossa laitteet pidetään toistensä välittömässä läheisyydessä tiedon siirtämiseksi niiden välillä. NFC-teknologia on siirtynyt nopeasti sen alkuperäisiltä toimialueilta eli mobiili maksupalvelujen ja kontaktittomien lippujen sovellusalueilta moninaisille uusille alueille. Kolmella NFC tagillä, joita on käsitelty tässä tutkielmassa, on muistin, turvallisuuden ja käytön kannalta erilaisiä rakenteita, joita käytetään eri sovelluksissa. NFC-tagit käyttävät tiedonvälityksessä NFC Forumin standardoimaa NDEF-tiedonvaihtoformaattia. NFC sovellukset esiintyvät yhä enenevässä määrin nopeasti kehyttyvillä, uudenlaisilla ja monipuolisilla sovellusalueilla, usein yhdessä eri laitteiden ja järjestelmien kanssa. NFC on käytettävissä erinäisten laitteiden kanssa erilaisissa järjestelmäympäristöissä. Monipuoliset sovellusalueet, joissa muun muassa NFC-tagejä ja -kortteja käytetään sisältävät seuraavanlaisia sovelluksia: älykkäät julisteet, kontaktittomat liput, avaimet ja pääsynvalvonta, kirjastopalvelut, viihdepalvelut, sosiaalisen verkoston palvelut, kasvatukseen ja koulutukseen liittyvät palvelut, sijaintiperustaiset palvelut, työvoiman ja vähittäiskaupan hallinto-palvelut ja terveyspalvelut. Erilaisten NFC-sovelluksien suunnittelussa on väistämätöntä ottaa erilaisia suunnitteluasioita huomioon kuten valita NFC-työkalut ja laitteet sovelluksen teknisten vaatimusten mukaan. Erilaiset tärkeät tekijät kuten muisti, tietoturvallisuusominaisuudet ja hinta ja niiden kaikkien toimivuus lopputuotteen kannalta on otettava huomioon. Tietoturvallisuusnäkökohta on erityisen tärkeä oikean NFC laitteen valitsemisessa, sillä käynnissä on loputon kilpajuoksu hakkerien, jotka yrittävät rikkoa ohjelmoitavien korkeatasoisten laitteiden ja tuotteiden tietoturvajärjestelmiä, ja valmistajien, jotka pyrkivät tuottamaan luotettavia varmoja järjestelmiä, välillä. Tietoturvariskiin liittyviä ongelmia on löydetty esimerkiksi MIFARE Ultralight ja DESFire MF3ICD40 tageista. Tärkeä havainto, joka saatiin erilaisten NFC sovelluksien tutkimisesta, oli oivaltaa NFCteknologian potentiaalinen kaikkialle ulottuva, yleiskäyttöinen luonne