Mobile payment methods are the methods used to pay for goods or services with a mobile handheld device.
A typical mobile payment scenario is as follows:
A user registers for the services via an Internet-enabled mobile handheld device.
The user submits his/her payment for the services he/she has received.
The service/content provider deals with the request by authenticating and authorizing the user and then contacting a wireless service provider and a financial institution.
A confirmation of the completed transaction is delivered to the user.
Two common kinds of mobile commerce payment methods are given as follows:
Macropayments
This kind of payments is commonly used by traditional electronic commerce and involve significant amounts of money, for example more than US $10.00.
Payments by credit cards are the most common method for macropayments.
Micropayments
These usually involve small amounts of below about US $10.00, which are too small to be economically processed by credit cards.
The amounts are usually charged to users’ phone bills or accounts.
A typical macropayment/micropayment scenario is given in the next slide.
The top and bottom figures in the next slide are for macropayment and micropayment, respectively.