Orange will start a mobile payment service trial in Poland. For this service, Orange has established a partnership with the Polish bank Bank Zachodni and MasterCard. And Gemalto will be the TSM(trusted service manager) for the trial. In Poland, the distribution of infrastructure accepting MasterCard PayPass is so wide spread that it would be easy for users to find available shops.
Orange is very aggressive in rolling out its NFC strategy throughout Europe. Nice is a good example which can see a business opportunity. And recent activities show its speed for initiating a business in Spain and Poland. But when seeing a business structure of a trial in Poland, it is not clear what Orange is aiming for. What will Orange get from the trial?
Normally, carriers try to make a profit from issuing a mobile card over the air. And in most countries, they drive its SIM-based SE(Secure Element) policy against platform providers such as Google and Apple. But Orange has chosen Gemalto as a TSM and the company appears to focus on the service activation itself. I think the probable reason for Orange to actively participate in the NFC business is to secure a competitive edge.
Like iTunes, mobile payment and commerce might be a new paradigm of next mobile business. For getting these business opportunities, NFC is a very useful and necessary tool. This highly secured chipset based service enable customers to migrate from their offline demands to online demands. And the first mobile channel between a user and an enterprise is a powerful private gateway in a two-sided market. Even though Orange can’t get the role of a TSM, this chance is very important.
Conclusively, what is really important is to get the service channel dubbed a mobile wallet.
Related Article: http://www.bizpoland.pl/news/index.php?contentid=206725