On the heels of the e-commerce revolution of the 1990s,which introduced credit card payments to the Internet, the m-commerce revolution promises to be the next big wave, many forward-thinkers are predicting. The “m” is for mobile, reflecting consumers’ love affair with the pocket-sized devices they use to take pictures, send and receive text messages, call home, and browse the Net. Today, consumers head for the mall with both cell phones and wallets, but in another decade or two, the wallet may be history.

The companies that make cell phones and run the cellular communication infrastructure could one day displace banks and credit card networks as the keepers of the settlement system people use. But first, the handset manufacturers, cell phone carriers, and payment processors will have to come together to make m-commerce work. Consumers are hardly waiting for corporations to invent the mobile payments system of the future. Donna Embry, senior vice president for product development at Louisville, Kentucky-based Payment Alliance International Inc., pulls out her iPhone while being interviewed by Transaction Trends and pulls up Amazon.com to buy a book. It’s a bit slow, but the process works. She gets a confirmation message that she has bought the book and then gets another message that Amazon will provide fast one-click service in the future for orders she makes with that phone, thanks to a cookie that has been implanted.

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