Mobile Wallet

What Is A Mobile Wallet?

A mobile wallet is an application that enables payments to be made online or physically with the aid of a smartphone or any other mobile device.

Their purpose of use could be general, e.g., Apple Pay and Google Wallet, or specific, e.g., for use at particular retailers like Burger King.

Apart from being the digital version of physical mobile wallets offering convenience and ease of use, they have not been generally adopted, and challenges might still arise when used.

In-store payments in stores listed with the mobile wallet service provider are made easy by these wallets. A customer can use contactless payment to complete the transaction with this type of wallet.

Deeper Definition

The relationship between businesses and consumers is very quickly taking a digital face, especially as technological advancements are redefining the way business is done to a different degree, especially through electronic commerce platforms.

This wave of digitalization has swept through the financial services sector, and the confluence of technology and financial services is referred to as ‘fintech.’

Innovations in payment solutions are constantly increasing, and mobile technology like smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and so on are used to aid the invasion of these spaces by such things as a mobile wallet.

Mobile wallets typically store information on debit cards, credit cards, coupons, and reward cards. Storage of each user’s information on the application is by linking personal identification formats such as keys, QR codes, or images of the owner to each stored card. Payments are enabled using near-field communication (NFC), by which radio frequencies are used to communicate between devices and with the point of sale (POS) terminal.

Mobile wallets are used to make purchases in digital contexts, especially online transactions for retail businesses that record-high values of transactions every day with the communication technology leveraged for effective and seamless electronic transactions.

Mobile Wallet Example

Apple Pay is a mobile wallet system that was introduced on Apple devices in 2014. Users can use their devices to store debit and credit card information. They can then use their device to make payments for goods and services at contactless payment points in retail outlets.  

Google Pay is another mobile wallet system that was released in January 2018 and is common on devices that run on the Android operating system.