Not by itself, but maybe that it can help a little bit. One of the sessions in JavaOne was about the Bekoz payment system, which aims at providing a low-cost alternative to money transfer schemes like Western Union.
The scheme is based on mobile phones, and the client side of the software runs on a Java Card-enabled SIM card. The application is based on SIM Toolkit, which allows it to provide a simple user interface on any mobile phone, including the most basic ones.
The scheme is really interesting, because it takes into consideration the problems that are specific to poor countries, in particular in Africa. The banking infrastructure is very scarce, as well as fixed telephony and other basic services. Mobile telephony, either based on personal of community phones, is the only infrastructure that works correctly. The scheme also takes into account the African culture, and relies on trusted individuals in small communities, rather than on a big organization.
In addition, a few companies have been involved in this initiative in a way that does not bring them an immediate return. Beside Sun, Sagem-Orga has provided some cards. At the end of the day, we are not only evil. If you think you can contribute, you can contact one of the JavaOne’s speakers, Jack Dangoor, Bekoz CEO, and Ram Banerjee, from Sun.
Hey,
Have been trying to study mobile payments for sometime and one name that comes most often during my reading is OboPay followed by PayPal.
Apart from these initiatives the others who also want to extend mobile enabled services include the MFIs and Banks. I wonder whether the model extended by OboPay / PayPal or whether MFI / Banks is going to win this battle.
The most interesting point mentioned in the above draft is about the SIM application being compatible to all mobiles. I wonder whether the OboPay or PayPal solutions are SIM Based though.