'Cell phone banking' is really a poor title for this excellent web cast on MarketWatch. Jeff Kagan is interviewed about the implications of the deals being made by AT&T with Wachovia, SunTrust and Regions Financial to deliver 'cell phone banking'. My reaction to the title was: Can't we do that already with obnoxious touch tone menu systems and Indian call centers? However, this isn't what the web cast is talking about (like I said, poor title). The bigger implication, the heart of it, is that we will soon be able to pay for things with our mobile devices.

So, yes, 'the future is here' we can now all sleep easier at night because we can pay for things and fuel Capitalism with more gusto. More importantly there are a few things that are sure to worry people and my self.

Security is discussed, but that's really not what worries me. What if you loose your phone? Yea, but what if you loose your keys, or your wallet, or your purse. Over the past few million year us humans have gotten pretty good at tending not to loose things that are of value (although I'm sure it still does happen to someone everyday, we live through it, life goes on). Transaction security is a whole other issue but I have faith in good encryption and that secure systems will be in place to handle the transactions.

Transaction speed is going to be a bigger issue than anyone has mentioned. We've gotten pretty impatient as species these days (try stopping right where you are for ten seconds on your way to work tomorrow morning, people will be pissed). If a mobile payment service like this is going to make any headway in the market, it will need to be 1) lightning fast and 2) really easy to use (aka., lightning fast for the user). The test I use for ease of use on my mobile is: Can I do it with one hand, in the dark, while walking. Seriously take those human factors into account! And, while many networks claim you're on the Edge, they are slow, and you aren't (yea, you know who you are Mingular with a C). In fact, most of the Internet enabled apps on my handset are dogs compared to the luxurious speeds we've grown accustomed to on the desktop.

Oh and Jeff you can't count: The 'Third screen' you mentioned and I'm paraphrasing here, 'first we had the television, then the computer, then the cell phone... the cell phone is the third screen', Um.... you missed the mother of all screens: the silver screen! Mobile devices are the fourth screen. Lets keep our numbers straight.