Courtesy of http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000403059063/

The AP’s Brian Bergstein tried out Massachussetts-based Vayusa Inc.’s MobileLime system, a new mobile payment service now operating in the Boston area. Of course, our neighbors in Japan have been hip to this for a while now, but Vayusa hopes to jump-start the mobile payment industry over here in that good ol’ cellular backwater we know and love. Right now MobileLime is only available at 80 stores in the greater Boston area, and as Bergstein reports, it’s not always a trouble-free experience to actually make a successful payment. He experienced a number of transactions where, in the end, it was just easier or became necessary to use cash. Though the setup of an account is fairly straightforward, the user experience of needing to call MobileLime, enter a pin number and a location code, then give the cashier the last four digits of your cellphone number, essentially proved too cumbersome. The only thing that made it at all worthwhile were the discounts merchants were offering for using the system, and even then — with only 80 stores to choose from, it’s not like you’re really going to be able to leave your wallet at home anytime soon. Still, mobile payments more than likely have a future, though it will probably involve a more elegant system in which payments are made by wireless communication with an RFID or other wireless chip inside the phone, the way the FeliCa system works in Japan.