AmEx: M-commerce 'not about tapping phones at the point of sale'

SAN DIEGO--The mobile and commerce sectors are on a "collision course" according to American Express group president of enterprise growth Dan Schulman, who said the future of m-commerce promises far more than the Near Field Communications-enabled contactless payment services currently generating the majority of headlines around the space.

Speaking during Wednesday morning's keynote session here at the CTIA Enterprise & Applications 2011 conference, Schulman said m-commerce will impact all segments of the mobile industry. "All of us in this room are going to need to rethink our business models, the way we do business and who we partner with," Schulman said. "All of us need to play in this together."

Schulman outlined an m-commerce model encompassing retail transactions as well as mobile coupons, offers, loyalty programs and related marketing tools. "There's no longer a difference between online commerce and offline--with my smartphone, I can have exactly the same information overlay in front of me as on the desktop," he said, noting that consumers can now access product information, pricing comparison data, recommendations and special offers. At the same time, Schulman said, merchants and marketers can leverage mobile devices to deliver and track more customized offers to consumers who opt in for in-store promotions.

"Mobile payments are not about tapping [a] phone at the point of sale," Schulman said, referring to nascent tap-and-pay initiatives like Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Wallet and Isis. "That's interesting, and it may be good for consumers, but it's going to take some time to be compelling if that's all mobile payments are about." Schulman added that while he expects NFC will eventually emerge as the standard for point-of-sale transactions, evolution will require significant time. "Today if you wave your phone at a cash register, the person behind the cash register is going to look at you like [you are] crazy," he said.   

American Express introduced its Serve m-commerce platform in March. Serve unifies multiple payment options into a single digital account that consumers can fund from their bank account, debit, credit or charge card, or by receiving cash from another Serve account. After users set up an account at Serve.com or download the appropriate Android or iOS application, they can send and receive money, pay bills and make online purchases. In addition, AmEx issues each Serve subscriber a reloadable prepaid credit card linked to their account, which they can use at any merchant or ATM that accepts American Express. AmEx has signed Serve partnerships with Sprint (NYSE:S) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ).

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