Master's Thesis from the year 2002 in the subject Business economics - Marketing, Corporate Communication, CRM, Market Research, Social Media, grade: 1,0, University of St. Gallen (unbekannt), language: English, abstract: Inhaltsangabe: Abstract: Mobile payment (mPayment) can be understood as every payment where at least one participant applies mobile phone technology, thus, uses a mobile phone. But due to technological progress it seems reasonable to classify other devices like a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or devices with embedded Radio Frequency (RF) technology as mobile payment devices. However, mobile phones today clearly outnumber every other mobile payment device. Penetration rates are forecasted to reach almost 80% in Europe by 2005. The number of worldwide cellular subscribers is expected to pass one billion by 2003. By 2005 there will be more mobile phones worldwide than TVs, fixed line phones, and Personal Computers (PC). Driven by the increasing penetration and resulting business opportunities, numerous mPayment solutions have been offered by payment service providers, telcos, and financial institutions. The variety of applicable technologies, the possible linkage between the financial instruments, and the mPayment device combined with different payment scenarios offer a wide landscape of mPayment solutions. Besides technology, questions dealing with consumer expectations, factors thriving or inhibiting a widespread adoption, and with it related penetration strategies for payment service providers have to be carefully researched to develop a successful mPayment. Based on diverse motivations and influenced by recent technology development banks, telcos and start-up companies endeavour to build a successful mPayment that meets the expectations of consumers and merchants. The research question of this paper focuses on factors that can be identified as crucial to drive the success of mobile payment systems. Therefore, the first goal is to give an introdu