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YOU can already use them to take photographs, play music and surf the internet. Now, latest technology will transform the mobile phone into a debit card.Hailed as a key development since the advent of the credit card, mobiles could soon be used as "surrogate debit cards" if a Dutch scheme is brought to the UK. The project in the Netherlands allows customers to link their mobile phones directly to their bank accounts and use the phones at supermarket checkouts as if they were Switch or Maestro cards.The system, developed by a supermarket, a bank, a phone network and the IT consultancy Logica, will go on display on Thursday at a Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE) briefing in Edinburgh, held to discuss ways to roll out new technology to British banking customers.Gavin Jones, delivery director in Logica's financial-services department in Edinburgh, said mobile phones could be linked directly to bank accounts or "topped-up" with money and used as pay-as-you-go smart cards."It's a revolution in terms of doing things with your mobile phone," he said."I believe the customer demand exists in the UK for these kinds of services. The next step would be to find partners – such as shops and banks – to take this project forward."About 100 customers took part in a six-month trial last year at the C1000 supermarket in Molenaarsgraaf, a Dutch village.When they reached the counter, the customers held their mobile phones against a reader attached to the checkout. They then typed their PIN numbers on the checkout's keypad to authorise the transaction.Owen Kelly, chief executive of the SFE, said: "We'll be looking at where mobile technology can go for financial services."This is a good example – if you look at countries like Japan or Korea, mobile phones are used all the time. So if it actually makes people's lives more straightforward, then I think, yeah, Scotland could move pretty quickly on this."Swipe cards and mobile phones that can be used to hold money like electronic wallets are among the latest high-technology options for shoppers. The e-wallet, which allows customers to make phone calls and buy groceries, and even acts as a front-door key, is being tested in Britain and could hit the high streets by the end of the year. In Japan, the e-wallet is already a must-have accessory, grabbing 40 per cent of the mobile-phone market since its launch in 2004.One of the latest devices to go on trial is the O2 Wallet, which includes a mobile phone, a Barclaycard credit card and an Oyster card, used to travel on London's public transport. More than 500 consumers have been given the new phones to test out over the coming six months.The aim of the technology is to offer consumers greater convenience. So instead of leaving home carrying several items, they will need to take just one. But Clare Hopping, features editor of What Mobile magazine, said that there were obvious concerns about the dangers of fraud. "There may be worries about security issues," she said. "If you lose your phone, you will have lost your debit card, too. The only fear is whether it will be as tightly controlled as chip and Pin has been."HOW IT WORKS
THE device works with near-field communication – a technology that uses high- frequency radio waves to transfer information between electronic devices such as the phone and the card reader.In the pilot, the mobile phone came with a built-in chip, containing the customer's bank details. The phones were adapted to incorporate a chip loaded with a debit card function that replicated the existing chip and Pin payment process.But once the phones are available for sale, the consumer will need to download an application which links to a chip with encrypted bank details.In use, the customers presented their shopping at the counter for tallying as usual. They then held the mobile phone next to the reader and confirmed the transaction by entering their Pin on the keypad.
By Tanya Thompson and Peter Ranscombe
As in the days of Noah.....
