News stories and articles about mobile wallets, their deployment and use are appearing more frequently in the media. There is clearly much interest in the commercial potential of mobile wallets by a variety of organisations in the communications and financial industries and beyond. There is also considerable jockeying for market position among key players striving to win the interest of consumers.

As with any new commercial proposition, the early stages of development are extremely important to its ultimate success or failure. Mobey Forum believes that the most effective way for the industry to create successful mobile wallet business is by adopting an open systems approach in which any mobile wallet can access and be served by multiple content providers.

To this end, it is important to set out and understand how the mobile wallet ecosystem can be influenced by various stakeholders. An essential component of mobile wallet operation that enables a mobile wallet stakeholder to influence how a part of the ecosystem operates is defined as control point. Mobey Forum suggests that a clear description of specific control points would be helpful, because that shows how the many different stakeholders can become involved and influence the building and operation of the mobile wallet ecosystem.