Observe mobile & online payment in S. Korea, Japan, China

Implications: 1. Timely article.
2. Highlights the U.S. while Japan, S. Korea, HK, Singapore, other parts of Asia Pacific, and W. Europe are already a few years ahead in implementation and consumer attitude.

Analysis: Mobile payment is here already in the world and is coming in the U.S.  It can actually be as or more secure than online payment via credit card or PayPal-equivalent. 

In the U.S. market, a key challenge will be educating the mass consumer market and conditioning more and more parts of it into a habit.

Go to S. Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Scandinavia, mobile usage including payment and other slick applications have been common for awhile or up to a few years already.

One major market to observe countering the U.S. is China.  It is many years behind the U.S. in the payment space, including its infrastructure, "trust" mentality of the people, and 90%+ of commerce is still cash.  It will be a growth market category for decades to come.  

Some working data points:  For example, there is YeePay in China, a leading, private e-payment service provider.  As can be seen on its website, its mobile top-up service allows mobile users to buy prepaid air time anytime anywhere on their mobile phone.  To use this service, users only need to link their mobile phone number to a bank card.  This provides a convenient alternative to the traditional prepaid card, which is very inconvenient for the end users and incurs additional costs for the carriers to manufacture and distribute the physical cards.  Its mobile SMS payment service allows users to purchase digital goods by sending SMS on their mobile phone which is linked to a stored value account.