When will we be able to pay using our mobile phones?

in dresden you can use your cellphone as a tram/bus ticket
or so the advertisment in the trams say

I know there’s been tests with this in the Netherlands. A quick search brings up the companies Payter and Mobile2Pay, and I also recall a Dutch bank (Rabobank) trying this out. As long as the only universal paying method we have is actual, analog money, I don’t really mind also carrying a pass in my wallet though, so I don’t really feel the need for this.

They are gearing up for using Cellphones to pay on BART, the San Francisco Subway.

No doubt you know that this is very commonplace in Japan.

Here in Canada Mastercard has been trying a similar method of payment called PayPass, where there is an RFID chip in your credit card and you can pay simply by touching your card up against the area. I have one, and I love using mine. (In addition, PayPass/Mastercard the only way you can pay at our Tim Hortons coffeehouses without paying cash.) I have a feeling that their trial is going successfully and this will begin to roll out elsewhere.

I don’t think I want it attached to my cellphone, but the way it’s going now is perfectly fine with me. Although I do note, I would like to invest in an RFID shielding wallet, as I can easily use PayPass without having to take the card out of my wallet (but still being pressed hard against the scanning portion).

Just a few days ago I read this article in the Times about how Japanese phones are so far ahead of the curve that they can’t actually sell them anywhere else. It’s kind of ironic. So it might take a while for this to catch on in the rest of the world, considering, but probably within the next few years I’d say it’ll be common enough that you could find a phone for your provider that will act as a credit card if you wanted one. Especially since it seems the Japanese cell phone manufacturers are going to try to go global.

@dynamicduo In Canada I also heard Rogers Wireless is partnering with VISA and RBC to make this possible in 2010. You will only be able to make small purchases like Mastercard PayPass though.