With Boku announcing that its mobile payment platform is now handling more than 1 million transactions monthly, it’s clear that the mobile payment industry is really beginning to take off.  As an alternative to making credit card payments, mobile payment platforms such as Boku are secure ways in which to purchase just about anything online.

Right now, we’re seeing a lot of integration with mobile payment platforms for the use of socially inclusive virtual goods economies as well as casual gaming.  They kind of go hand in hand, given the nature of virtual goods and casual games to be at the forefront of payment alternatives.  They are newer types of online transactions, and they have been in a position where providing several payment options to users is a necessary part of gaining traction.

Mobile payments work by letting consumers enter their phone numbers as a payment option, and their mobile service provider receives the bill from the seller.  The charges are then tacked onto the consumer’s monthly cell phone bill.  Each payment requires a text-message confirmation, so the payments are secure as long as the customer is in possession of their mobile phone.

The concept isn’t new at all, but the ability to apply it to a wide range of online products is a newer implementation of mobile payments.  This acts as an erection of a new financial institution, which could become quite successful especially on a global scale.  Microtransactions could provide a viable alternative to those with limited Internet access, and mobile service providers such as T Mobile are already thinking in terms of a financial institution for their customers, as they now allow you to finance everything from your new phone to the $25 car charger you picked up in the store.

What will be particularly interesting is how mobile payments can help drive the virtual goods economy, even as they begin to penetratemore traditional online (and eventually offline) retail services.  When it comes to certain social platforms, such as Twitter, that span the mobile and the PC world, we will see some interesting intersections between virtual goods, casual gaming and mobile payments.

I’m anxious to see the direction in which this will go, especially as it pertains to Twitter.  With Twitter’s ability to provide a conduit for virtual goods and casual gaming, traffic is ultimately redirected to third party websites.  This acts as a different behavioral reaction than applications found on networks like Facebook, which are more apt to retain the traffic because the app is primarily housed within Facebook (as far as users are concerned).

In all, I think mobile payments will help further the virtual goods economy, especially on platforms such as Twitter where there is already a comfortable overlap of mobile and somewhat intangible goods being purchased for remote interaction with others, on one’s own time.