“Mobile payment” is a large category. It covers everything from using SMS to confirm your credit card in a retailer, to simply ordering an item over the mobile internet. But for me, the true meaning of “mobile payments” has always been to actually use your device as a payment method. Combining NFC with mobile devices, you could just wave your mobile over a reader at check-out to pay for your goods. This already works well with cards (like the Oyster card for the London Underground), and the same technology can simply be placed in your phone. Today, China Mobile and a Shanghai-based tech firm, SEIMMA Tech Co., have launched a mobile device payment trial in Shanghai.

How does it work?

It’s based around SIM cards - people in the trial replace their regular SIM with a customized RF UIM card. This card allows you to pay by swiping your handsets on readers at the point-of-sale. The trial only comprises 200 readers and 1,000 RF UIM cards in Shanghai, but if it is successful it could lead to a roll-out all over China - initially in the south of the country.

What are the security issues?

A major problem with mobile device payments is ....