Credit cards are currently the only game in town. Although payment cards, in some cases based on smart card technology, are in use in some European countries, there are no internationally accepted alternatives to the credit card. The general acceptance of the credit card as the Internet payment mechanism of choice is further evidence of the North American influence. Schemes such as Gismo and PayPal are electronic payment mechanisms specifically designed for retail consumers shopping via the Internet. A major boost to e-commerce would be provided by governments either endorsing such schemes or introducing state equivalent schemes.
Regulators are the hedgehogs on the information superhighway.
In general regulation causes more problems than it solves and has never yet successfully acted as a catalyst in promoting change. One of the big problems that I see is that e-commerce is inconsistently defined, and implemented. There are twice as many mobile phone users in Europe as there are Internet users.