Towards a ubiquitous mobile payment solution: Exploring NFC mobile payment business models: A case study on Google Wallet and ISIS

Abstrakt

Background: The mobile payment industry is an emerging and highly lucrative market. Different technologies, such as NFC, have emerged, creating excitement and resulting in more and more companies to join the movement. Despite the turmoil, NFC mobile payment systems have been lagging behind its expectation. Issues surrounding the business model have been accounted for the slow market progressions, among others. The need for stringent and rigorous analysis of business models of m-payment services has been also identified by academics based on the relevancy and lack of such studies. Thus, this thesis seeks to address this research gap. Purpose: This thesis sets out to study NFC-enabled mobile payment approaches on the basis of business model thinking Design/methodology/approach: First, the mobile payment ecosystem will be examined, with the purpose to expose the dynamics between different stakeholders in the ecosystem as well as the underlying issues surrounded on NFC mobile payments. Second, extant research on business models, and especially originating from the mobile service field, will be enquired to construct a business model framework appropriate for the study of NFC m-payments. Third, the resulting framework will be applied to test its usefulness and expose the particularities of NFC business models to deploy a ubiquitous m-payment solution. Contribution: The research has produced two significant outcomes that contribute to the research of business models and NFC mobile payment. First, the author developed the novel Business Model for Mobile Payments framework, which has been derived from extant research on business models and tested on two case studies. The findings suggest the applicability of the framework to deal with the complexity and particular characteristics of NFC m-payments and related business issues. It considers a broad range of facets that are seen as highly relevant in the m-payment domain. Second, the author provides a grounded understanding of NFC m-payment business models, based the case study on two promising mobile payment initiatives, i.e. Google Wallet and ISIS. Research limitations/implications: Limitations of this thesis are due to the explorative and qualitative approach, and are to be complemented by other approaches. Researchers and practitioners can use the framework to analyze mobile payment business models. In addition, it enables them to communicate and share understanding of the different aspects surrounding the design of business models.