Visa announced its intentions to take its services to the mobile phone market through a partnership with Nokia which will enable mobile payments and another one with Google for developing several services on its Android platform.

Elizabeth Buse, global head of product at Visa, explained that such a project has been considered for quite some time but so far it didn’t manage to record any significant success. She added that the 3 billion mobile phones present huge financial potential and that fueled the company’s efforts for finding a useful service for mobile phone users.

For T-Mobile’s Dream phone and also all other devices that will use Android as an OS, Visa prepared so far three services: Alerts, Offers and Locator, all scheduled for release by the end of the year. Alerts will enable customers to receive "near real-time" notification of purchase activity, using the guidelines specified by the cardholder. Offers and Locator will allow users to receive targeted offers, using the details of their previous purchases and also provide information about nearby shops or ATMs that accept Visa.

Visa's partnership with Nokia will enable users to make remote payments with their mobile phones, money transfers, as well as receive alerts and notifications.

Tim Attinger, Visa’s global head of product development, explained that the company is looking to expand the service by reaching agreements with as many phone operators as possible and also other handset makers. “This is the first step in a plan to get on as many platforms as we can,” he said.

It might take a while for the service to become popular but it does present the potential and once other companies will get involved, bringing their experience and ideas, the offer will only get better.