10 New Ways You’ll Use Your Mobile This Decade

Posted on 21. Jan, 2010 by Suraj in Internet Marketing

Ten years ago the Internet was still in its infancy, let alone mobile Internet & telephony. Today, there are more mobile phones on the planet than human beings (apparently since 2004, actually) which tells its own story about how fast the technology has developed and made accessible to almost everyone. There was a point in 1985 when Vodafone claimed that where would only ever be ‘about a million’ mobiles sold..ever!!

The first decade of the 21st Century gave us so many new ways of using the Internet and communicating with our mobile phones in other ways than just telephone calls. We were introduced to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Skype, iPod, iPhone, DAB, HD, PS3, 3G, MP3, MP4, GPS…the list goes on.

The question is, what does the next 10 years hold for mobile technology? Read on for 10 predictions…

1. SMS Money (“text a tenner”)

Lending a friend £10 or splitting and paying a restaurant bill with friends will be as straightforward as sending a text from your mobile phone. You’ll simply send money instantly from one phone to another by SMS.

2. Mobile Barcodes

Shops, restarurants and theatres will text or email you tickets, vouchers and special offers in the form of barcodes which can be displayed on your mobile phone. And al you’ll do, to receive the benefit, is scan them on arrival.

3. Shopping by text

Savvy shoppers will be able to buy items from advertising billboards, magazines or TV adverts simply by texting a code on the advert to the store – which will debit their bank account and mail out the desired product.

4. Holiday Money

No more running out of foreign currency or worrying about stolen or cloned credit cards. Travellers will be able to load up a pre-paid currency card from their mobile phone, lock and unlock their credit cards from their handset and receive text alerts to confirm when their card has been used overseas.

5. Text for a balance-check

Queuing in the cold at an ATM cash point or waiting for the next available call centre operator simply to find out your bank balance will become a thing of the past. You’ll just send a text from your mobile, and receive a reply containing your bank balance in seconds.

6. Money Management on the move

With a range of new smartphones joining Apple’s iPhone as the must-have gadget of 2010, people will be able to use bespoke applications to check their balance, pay bills and move money from account to account with just a few taps on the screen.

7. Overdraft text alerts

There’ll be no more fear of plunging into the red, or worrying if your salary has been paid, with banks offering to text their customers when they approach their overdraft limit or when a payment has been made.

8. Click-and-pay bills

No more paper bills or having to log into multiple websites: 2010 will see ‘billing by text’ for many people. Registered users will receive a text telling them how much their bill is and enabling them to just click to pay it.

9. Touch and pay goods and services

Commuters in London already enjoy ‘touch and pay’ technology with the Oyster card system to travel around the capital. 2010 will see more people able to use the same technology, via their mobile phones, to buy a cup of coffee, a new book or even pay for a haircut.

10. Mobile money goes global

In many parts of the world, banks are few and far between, so the mobile phone is destined to transform the way millions of people look after their money, make payments, shop and trade. 2010 will see massive expansion in the coverage of these services throughout Africa, India and the rest of Asia.

Tags: click and pay, mobile banking, mobile barcodes, mobile money, mobile technology