Text Messages Now Used for Payment: eMobile Service Based on iSMS® Developed by Luottokunta, BookIt and Microsoft

Luottokunta, BookIt Oy and Microsoft have worked together to develop the world’s first authentication service, which allows for mobile payments from any mobile phone and via any operator, using so-called iSMS®. Luottokunta eMobile is a digital service based on a new authentication method, which gives consumers an easy way to purchase services, and vendors a flexible way of making additional sales.

The advantage of iSMS® is that the use of the service does not require additional accessories or applications for the phone. Earlier systems have been based on authenticating the mobile phone and its user. For this purpose, a separate certificate was needed on the phone’s SIM card. In iSMS®, the system is entirely within the network, and no separate certificates or mobile wallets are necessary. The payment method can be any card registered for the service by the consumer. Authentication is done as a cloud service, where an unforgeable “fingerprint” is created for each transaction.

“The iSMS® is already used by 3.7 million Finns in the form of various services. One of the most popular is undoubtedly Finnair’s flight check-in service. The new development is that the iSMS®  can be used to pay for various services. Business travellers do not have time to queue up for additional services, and Finnair believes that its services will grow in popularity when they can be ordered and paid for conveniently on the phone,” explains BookIt CEO Jukka Salonen.

For the end user, the service manifests itself as an ordinary text message, sent by the service provider to the customer. To identify themselves and make a payment, the customers respond to the message, for example by typing a specific letter.

“It is not an ordinary text message, which is easy to forge; authentication is highly secure here. The payment transaction is always within the Luottokunta system, which makes Luottokunta responsible for data protection. eMobile is a completely unique service, not only very easy to use but also extremely secure. Mobile payments using VISA and MasterCard have never been this easy,” says Luottokunta CEO Heikki Kapanen.

Thanks to their ease of use and speed, mobile payments are suitable for repeated and routine payments, such as travel or cinema tickets, subscriptions, car parking charges, and vending machine and online purchases. For example, Finnair customers will be able to pay for onboard purchases or airport services by SMS. Finnair is not the only public transport company in Finland to be interested in the possibilities of mobile payments. In addition, negotiations are ongoing with businesses in the entertainment and e-commerce sectors.

Luottokunta’s eMobile service is free for the consumer, and it can be used with any European credit or debit card in addition to the Finnish payment cards. Charges for the service are covered by the companies that use it.

For further information contact:

Heikki Kapanen, CEO, Luottokunta, tel. +358 9 6964 8201, firstname.lastname(at)luottokunta.fi

Jukka Salonen, CEO, BookIt, firstname.lastname(at)bookit.net

Luottokunta is Finland’s leading card payment service company that develops and provides efficient card payment solutions for banking as well as merchant and corporate customers. In 2010, total sales generated by cards under Luottokunta’s VISA and MasterCard schemes totalled EUR 27.6 billion. Luottokunta employs a staff of 500.

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Case Study of New Mobile Payment Solution in Use: Finnair

Finnair has been using BookIt’s iSMS® services for several years. Passengers have been very happy with the services, because they are very easy to use, they work on any mobile phone, and they are available through every operator.

Director Tom Källström from Finnair says that today’s business traveller wants to receive basic services as quickly and affordably as possible.  The most popular services so far have been the possibility of checking in by iSMS® and instructions texted to phones in the case of changes. Most passengers do not have time to queue in order to buy additional services using traditional payment methods. Källström believes that people would also use more added-value services if they could pay for them conveniently by mobile phone. 

“Those who travel a lot want basic services to be taken care of as quickly and efficiently as possible. Thanks to the new mobile payment system, personalised services are also now efficient for the airline to offer and hassle-free for the passenger to use,” Källström concludes.

For further information contact:

Tom Källström, Director, Finnair, firstname.lastname(at)finnair.com