Mobile banking seen as stage toward 'mobile account management'.

• Position: First Data Corp

What's the next step after mobile banking? The answer is "mobile account management," according to Barry McCarthy president of Mobile Commerce Solutions at First Data Corp., Denver.

In a white paper, McCarthy argues the consumers ultimately will want an "electronic wallet" in which they manage their purchasing instruments and reward programs--in the same way that people today manage the cash, debit and credit cards they carry in their pocket wallets. And the electronic wallet of the future would be managed through a mobile telephone.

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First Data provides services in the areas of electronic commerce and payment.

McCarthy illustrates the way mobile account management would work by using an example of a couple, shopping at a home improvement store, who come across a marked-down new bathroom vanity. Even though they want the vanity, they realize that the expenditure doesn't have a place in their existing budget.

"They quickly open the electronic wallet application on their phone and gain access to a variety of accounts, including checking and savings accounts, credit card accounts, stored-value accounts, airline miles and other rewards accounts, their kids' school lunch accounts, and even a home equity line of credit account...