Amazing things you can do with your smartphone - 6. Mobile Wallet
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6. Mobile Wallet
With Near-Field Communication (NFC) coming to smartphones, everyone is expecting a gradual decline in the use of plastic cards and cash. Digital transactions might still be a distant dream for most of India, but local services have started scratching the surface. Airtel Money, Vodafone Cash, MTN Mobile Money, Tigo Cash are special services that works on the cell number.
Users recharge their accounts and these can be used to make phone and electricity bill payments from the mobile. Some coffee shops have also started accepting Airtel Money payments. Smartphones are also replacing swipe machines for small businesses and at homes using a special accessory attached to the phone's 3.5mm jack.
Sometime back MTS launched a pilot service called mPoS (Mobile as Point of Sale) that was designed to suit the needs of retailers, home-delivery based service models like e-commerce players, food chains, pizza delivery outlets and companies with direct sales. The service allowed users to swipe debit/credit cards with the portable card reader accessory and use the application to process the transaction.
