The m-commerce sector exploits the mobile telephone as the ideal personal terminal. Individuals will soon be making or receiving payments over the Internet or similar insecure open networks using their GSM phones adapted as data terminals. The amazing growth in GSM phone users provides the operators of future m-commerce services with a ready made customer base. At least one UK Bank has the vision to build new and enhanced card services on this foundation. Biometrics has a less obvious and more subtle role.
Encryption provides the digital certificates needed for trustworthy transactions over the Internet.
Smart Cards provide secure storage for the secret encryption keys. They also give Authorised Card Holders a single instrument for payments in both the physical world and the virtual world of the Internet. This becomes really important in individual to individual transactions between strangers over the Internet and other on-line services. Biometrics rarely figures in current scenarios for Card Holder authentication. This appears to be because most current service providers for e-commerce are PIN oriented.