LIVE FROM GSMA NFC & MOBILE MONEY SUMMIT 2012: Mobile financial service providers should not focus on payment as the “killer app” to attract users, according to the CEO of mobile money technology provider Oberthur Technologies, Xavier Drilhon.
 
“Payment is the first service you need to enable but let’s face it, it’s not the killer app,” Drilhon told delegates in Milan today, adding that services such as transport, event ticketing, access control and loyalty schemes should play a major role.

Successful mobile financial services will also embrace both NFC and more traditional mobile money technology, according to Drilhon, who said “you should think of them as two sides of the same coin”.

Other elements that should be in place include an ecosystem in which all stakeholders benefit, services that work on all phones (even when disconnected from networks), a simple user experience, finding the right balance between security and customer experience and being open to service providers and the developer community.

Drilhon added that many mobile financial service initiatives have failed through a lack of these elements. “The reality is that very few projects have reached critical mass and even less have demonstrated economic return,” he said.