As electronic commerce in the mobile sector becomes a reality, the need for payment systems that can deal both with micro-payments and the location-based, personalized nature of the mobile phone, is becoming paramount. Additionally, there is a strong case for providing systems that can interoperate with the fixed line world, enabling end-users to use the same account to purchase goods or services through a variety of methods.

E-commerce is growing throughout the world; in 1999 European e-commerce reached a value of Euros 8 billion, according to Forrester Research. Mobile commerce is per se not included in the traditional e-commerce market models. Mobile e-commerce will be able to increase the overall market for e-commerce as it provides easily personalized local goods anytime and anywhere.