Mobile Payments Market: Towards Another Clash of the Titans?

In this paper we assess developments in the mobile payments in light of new technologies (e.g., NFC) and solution frameworks (e.g., Android). With the recent announcements of Google and other players to enter the mobile payment markets the already dynamic arena of mobile payments is getting more complex and competitive. Everyone is jockeying to new positions by announcing novel payment solutions based e.g. on NFC systems. We argue, however, that significant and recurrent social, institutional, and business challenges remain to be solved for successful mobile payment platforms to emerge. In order to get these multi-sided platforms to diffuse multiple stakeholders have to be simultaneously convinced for related value propositions and more workable economic arrangements need to be forged.