Pay For Groceries With Your Cellphone?

Ever thought you would see a day where you can pay for your groceries or a subway ride simply by waving your cellphone?  Well at some point, you may be able to!

Mobile commerce is not as previlent in the United States as it is in some countries such as Japan or South Korea, but it is expected to increase in the coming years.  According to research firm Gartner, while 34 million mobile transactions are expected to take place in North America in 2009, an astounding 500 million are expected to take place in Asia.  And by 2012, Gartner predicts that North America will make about 221 million mobile transactions compared to 2.4 billion in Asia.

What can this technology be used for extactly you might ask?  According to an article on Reuters, “In Korea, people can buy gifts on a handset and text friends to pick it up in the store. And in the Philippines, people can get money from families overseas faster and cheaper via text message than by using a bank transfer.”  According to Sandy Shen, a Gartner research director in Shanghai, “In Japan, people can wave the phone to take trains, pay for groceries, board the plane and access buildings.”

There are still some kinks to work out in the United States before this can becoming mainstream however.  Such as cellphones that include chips in them to process contactless payments and there also seems to be some possible regulatory issues blocking the progression of the technology.

So when will you be able to wave your cell phone to pay for that chinese takeout your picking up?  Not sure, but it will be interesting to see how this progresses.