Comments on: Here come the mobile payment wars

Two rival companies, Boku and Zong, want to replace your credit card number with your cell phone number. Here's how it might pan out.

[RobertAPierce]

"It's quite an idea, and one with invariably will raise plenty of questions about economics, social-media revenue, and the big one--security."

Ok, so security is the big question.... yet there is no mention of it in the article, no discussion of the security considerations, risks etc at all?

What happens if someone finds someone else's cell phone? Can they just go on a shopping spree with that phone until the person realizes the phone is missing and manages to alert the phone company? How do you prevent someone else from using it if they simply borrow your phone to make a call?

Also, texting is certainly not secure, the information can be accessed, spoofed and hacked in a bunch of ways.

This is an interesting idea, and I can certainly see a lot of potential, but it raises a lot of questions that are not covered in the article.

[kakrohn]

Good comment, but all the items you are concerned about can happen with ANY form of payment.

People lose their credit cards all the time and anyone could pick it up and use it (most places don't ID).

Large companies everyday get hacked into and leak customer's personal info (including SS#, CC#, etc).

Hackers can access your PayPal or online banking passwords and take over your account that way too.

[SullivanDavid]

I have never liked charges that are added to my phone bill. It just feels creepy. And I've never had a good experience with it. For quick and easy micropayments, check out TwitPay. Pay someone with as little effort as typing "@some_twitter_name twitpay $5 for service"

[yacahuma]

I would not use this kind of service. My father's wallet and phone was stolen at gun point. Who do I call? Credit card have a big support infrastructure and experience.

[cvaldes1831]

We should just institute what the Japanese have been running for years rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. It's already accepted in a G7 country.

[T_Tran]

Yup, cvaldes1831 is absolutely correct. When the iphone was first launched here in America, a survey was conducted in Japan if they would convert to an iphone and everyone said no. They are 5 years ahead of us in phone technology, since they use their cell phone for almost everything. This includes swiping it at the grocery store like a debit/credit card, using it as a library card, paying for sports tickets at the ball park, etc.

[ivorycruncher]

Um, yeah, MAJOR security hurdles to clear on this one. Phone numbers are widely known, and easy to find and/or steal. Credit card numbers are not. You will never convince me that mobile phone numbers are as secure or even more secure than credit card numbers. NOT going to happen. Convenience is pointless if you compromise security to get it.

[kakrohn]

Just because someone knows your cellphone #, doesn't mean they will get the security text message... unless they stole your cellphone. But that could happen with credit cards and online passwords too.

[Vegaman_Dan]

It's not hard to spoof a cell phone hardware address. There are plenty of cell phones on the market now that are 'blank' and meant to be programmed live on the fly to a new number. All that new phone has to do is register on the network before yours does and it gets the address/ID for your number.

Once that happens, the crook can rob you blind, then disappear. Your cell phone company will be charging you for the bill and it would be up to you to defend yourself. Cell phone companies aren't exactly great on customer service now- can you see how this will improve once people are calling up saying they were ID Spoofed and ripped off?

No thank you, I will not be using this service.

[worried1]

You are correct in that security was not mentioned except to call anyone interested in security "secutity freaks". Maybe the author does not feel security is important but I do and I agree I do not need extra charges on my cell phone bill. As one said what if my cell phone is lost or stollen and it was not locked how do you prove it was not you. I will keep my credir card as long as I can. The phone companies will not help you if a charge is posted just look at the scams for overseas charges and tell me if any phone company has ever helped in having the charges dropped.

[kzemach]

Something that these companies need to consider: Opt In, not this free for all. Take any small business, or even many large ones. We pay for our employee's phones. We do NOT want to go through all their phone bills to find out if they're charging personal stuff to the company via text message. The bill payer on these phones needs to validate the acceptance of the phone number. If this is already implemented, the article needs to say so.

You can already do stuff like this in Europe too. It's pretty awesome being able to pay for parking, public transit, etc. just by using your cell phone.

paybox.at is one used in Austria.

[vgraybeard]

You don't have to wait for this. Just get AT&T. They've been adding unauthorized charges & services from themselves and companies you've never heard of, for years. If and when those charges are discoverd, it takes months to get them removed and you will never get a satisfactory explanation. It's
already to easy to add small charges that can go un-noticed. I'm not suprised to see that AT&T is in
the middle of this one.

[AndrewRich]

Can I redeem my banked Flooz and Beenz with this new service?

[johandmeyer]

Another mobile payment and money transferring service to keep an eye on is www.globa.com.