The new SIM cards will let mobile users buy pre-pay credits on their phones, perform debit or credit transactions and pay for information from the internet. To date, security of data transfers has been perceived as one of the biggest hurdles to mobile commerce, or m-commerce. The funding came from 3i, Commerzbank AG, Scottish Equity Partners and SFT 99 Technology Fund based in Helsinki.
Neil Stewart, founder of Aspects and chief executive of its new subsidiary, mobEcom, said, “The mobile phone can at last evolve to become a payment device as ubiquitous as the credit card.” He anticipates that 30% of an estimated one billion new mobile phone users over the next four years will need the sort of security being developed by his company.
Aspects is already the largest independent SIM business in the world. It has a subsidiary in San Jose, USA and a distributor in Japan.