Past,presentandfutureofmobilepaymentsresearch:AliteraturereviewTomiDahlberga,NiinaMallata,JanOndrusb,*,AgnieszkaZmijewskacaHelsinkiSchoolofEconomics,P.O.Box1210,00101Helsinki,FinlandbEcoledesHEC,UniversityofLausanne,Internef,1015Dorigny,SwitzerlandcUniversityofTechnology,Sydney,235JonesStreet,BroadwayNSW2007,AustraliaReceived16September2006;receivedinrevisedform3February2007;accepted4February2007Availableonline9February2007AbstractThemobilepaymentservicesmarketsarecurrentlyundertransitionwithahistoryofnumeroustriedandfailedsolutions,andafutureofpromisingbutyetuncertainpossibilitieswithpotentialnewtechnologyinnovations.Atthispointofthedevelopment,wetakealookatthecurrentstateofthemobilepaymentservicesmarketfromaliteraturereviewperspective.Wereviewpriorliteratureonmobilepayments,analyzethevariousfactorsthatimpactmobilepaymentservicesmarkets,andsuggestdirectionsforfutureresearchinthisstillemergingfield.Tofacilitatetheanalysisofliterature,weproposeaframeworkoffourcontingencyandfivecompetitiveforcefactors,andorganizethemobilepaymentresearchundertheproposedframework.Consumerperspectiveofmobilepaymentsaswellastechnicalsecurityandtrustarebestcoveredbycontemporaryresearch.Theimpactsofsocialandculturalfactorsonmobilepayments,aswellascomparisonsbetweenmobileandtraditionalpaymentservicesareentirelyuninvestigatedissues.Mostofthefactorsoutlinedbytheframeworkhavebeenaddressedbyexploratoryandearlyphasestudies.2007ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.Keywords:Mobilepayments(m-payments);Literaturereview;Futureresearch1.IntroductionMobilephoneshavetransformedtelephonyprofoundly.Theyareequippedwithfunctionalitieswhichsurpasstele-phonyneeds,andwhichinspirethedevelopmentofvalue-addedmobileservices,theuseofmobilephonesasaccessdevices,andmobilecommerceingeneral.Thenum-berofmobilephonesinusefarexceedsanyothertechnicaldevicesthatcouldbeusedtomarket,sell,produce,ordeli-verproductsandservicestoconsumers.Thesedevelop-mentsopenlucrativeopportunitiestomerchantsandserviceproviders.Purchasedproductsandserviceshavetobepaidfor.Ini-tially,fixed-linetelephonybillingsystemsweremodifiedtochargemobiletelephony.Later,mobiletelephonybillingsystemswereintroduced,andusedalsotochargevariousmobileserviceswhensuchservicesemerged.Yet,paymentsbasedonbillingsystemshaveseverallimitations.Theseincludecomparativelyhighpaymenttransactionfees,mer-chantandserviceprovidercomplaintsaboutunfairreve-nuesharing,andthenecessitytoprovisionservicestobillingsystems[66,80].Insomeareas,suchastheEuropeanUnion,creditedpaymentservicestothirdpartiesrequirea(limited)creditinstitutionlicense.Thelackofsuitablepay-mentinstrumentshasforalongtimebeenregardedasafactorthathampersthedevelopmentofmobilecommerce.Mobilepaymentsarepaymentsforgoods,services,andbillswithamobiledevice(suchasamobilephone,smart-phone,orpersonaldigitalassistant(PDA))bytak-ingadvantageofwirelessandothercommunicationtech-nologies.Mobiledevicescanbeusedinavarietyofpaymentscenarios,suchaspaymentfordigitalcontent(e.g.,ringtones,logos,news,music,orgames),tickets,1567-4223/$-seefrontmatter2007ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.doi:10.1016/j.elerap.2007.02.001*Correspondingauthor.Tel.:+41216923414;fax:+41216923405.E-mailaddresses:Tomi.Dahlberg@hse.fi(T.Dahlberg),Niina.Mal-lat@hse.fi(N.Mallat),jan.ondrus@unil.ch(J.Ondrus),aga@it.uts.edu.au(A.Zmijewska).(2008)165–181parkingfeesandtransportfares,ortoaccesselectronicpaymentservicestopaybillsandinvoices.Paymentsforphysicalgoodsarealsopossible,bothatvendingandtick-etingmachines,andatmannedpoint-of-sale(POS)terminals.Amobilepaymentiscarriedoutwithamobilepaymentinstrumentsuchamobilecreditcardoramobilewallet.Inadditiontopuremobilepaymentinstruments,mostelec-tronicandmanyphysicalpaymentinstrumentshavebeenmobilized.Furthermore,mobilepayments,asallotherpayments,fallbroadlyintotwocategories:paymentsfordailypurchases,andpaymentsofbills(creditedpayments).Forpurchases,mobilepaymentscomplementorcompetewithcash,cheques,creditcards,anddebitcards.Forbills,mobilepaymentstypicallyprovideaccesstoaccount-basedpaymentinstrumentssuchasmoneytransfers,Internetbankingpayments,directdebitassignments,orelectronicinvoiceacceptance.Intheearly2000s,mobilepaymentservicesbecameahottopicandremainedsoevenaftertheburstoftheInter-nethype.Hundredsofmobilepaymentservices,includingaccesstoelectronicpaymentsandInternetbanking,wereintroducedallovertheworld.Strikinglymanyoftheseeffortsfailed.Forexample,most,ifnotall,ofthedozensofmobilepaymentservicesavailableinEUcountriesandlistedintheePSOdatabasein2002[5]havebeendiscontin-ued.Tofacilitatethedevelopmentofbettermobilepay-mentservices,itisimportanttounderstandthelessonsofthishistorybylearningwhatpreviousstudieshavediscov-eredaboutmobilepaymentsandaboutthemobilepay-mentservicesmarkets,aswellaswhatissueshaveremainedunanswered.Theaimofthispaperistosummarizefindingsfrompastmobilepaymentsresearch,andtosuggestpromisingdirec-tionsforfutureresearch.Thereareanumberoffactorsthathighlightth