In the ongoing debate regarding mobile financial services in developed nations there has always been the argument that consumers don't see any value in mobile financial services. This position argues that in developed nations there is such a convenient and reliable financial infrastructure (ATM's, online banking, e-Commerce, credit & debit cards, etc.) that consumers will see very little value-add from being able to conduct banking transactions on their mobile phone. To be honest this is a compelling argument and I also wondered how much value a person would really see in being able to pay utility bills on their mobile phone when they can just as easily do it on their home or office PC. Is the urge, or need, to pay the bill that strong that it must be done on the go? 

The absence of any significant behavioural research, along with the slow adoption of mobile banking relative to the developing world, seemed to support this argument. However a recent data release by eBay seems to show that users will use mobile financial service heavily if given the opportunity. EBay reported that users have already spent $400 million on goods through eBay's iPhone application! That is truly remarkable when you also factor that this was an application that ONLY ran on the iPhone. What if it was also offered on the BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile or Symbian? If consumers are finding the need, and desire, to bid for and purchase items on the go then they are definitely going to find the need to bank and pay bills on their mobile phone as well….