LIVE FROM GSMA NFC & MOBILE MONEY SUMMIT 2012: Hoojong Kim, SVP and head of SK Planet’s global technology research institute, used his presentation in the afternoon keynote session to outline a number of difficulties hindering the take-up of NFC, as well as a proposed solution. The session was dedicated to answering the question ‘How to make mobile money successful?’.

The difficulties, he said, included insufficient numbers of NFC dongles, not enough NFC-based services and a lack of recognition among market participants such as retailers.

SK Planet’s solution is Smart Touch, its NFC open platform, that it hopes will encourage third parties and retailers to develop apps that will prove popular with end-users,  so boosting the NFC market.

Meanwhile Bill Gajda, Visa’s global head of mobile product, outlined the credit card giant’s strategy in mature markets as well as the developing world. In the latter markets, that approach includes Visa Mobile Prepaid.  In the former markets, its strategy includes its PayWave technology, device certification and V.me, its digital wallet.

Gajda pointed to the importance of interoperability: “NFC has a 24-36 months headstart because it is standards-based. It has momentum over cloud-based approaches and other alternatives. We need to use the advantage of standardisation to take friction out of system. Too much friction then the alternatives will find scale and create a standard”.