by Mary O'Neill
British-based mobile phone software company Magic4 has developed software that will allow for mobile transactions.
The company, which also has offices in France and North America, works with Irish security company Anam in implementing security products. Its new software, Gate, has been embedded on the Philips Xalis and the Motorola V.100. Rollout of the software is expected to take place in May of this year.
Magic4 will work in collaboration with banks, retailers and financial institutions. Users can dial a number and be assigned a PIN code. Once this PIN code has been assigned, a bar code will be generated on the user's mobile phone screen, which will enable transactions to be made that day.
"You can scan your bar code and pay automatically. Or else the cost of the debit can be paid through the phone bill, it depends on what people are comfortable with," John Kitchen, marketing manager of Magic4 told ElectricNews.Net.
He also added that the software should come in particularly useful for countries that are switching to the euro.
"Governments have been concerned that car park machines and so on would all have to be changed to accommodate the new coinage, but bar code transactions would be far less hassle," he said.
The company recently conducted a survey, which showed that 80 percent of 15-20 year olds in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden would be willing to pay for goods and services by zapping tills and scanners with 'm-credits', thereby leading to the a decline in usage of hard cash.
It also showed that under 21's, the most prolific users of SMS text messaging, would prefer to pay for goods through secure electronic 'm-credits' if they were widely accepted. "Generation M," as this age group has been dubbed, would, according to the survey, be happy to add payment for the majority of their purchases to their phone bills.
The company hopes in the future to implement its software on other handsets by manufacturers other than Philips and Motorola.
