Verizon, currently the largest mobile carrier in the U.S, is investing a lot in a relatively new trend that has a great deal of potential: the mobile wallet. Verizon’s goal is to set  up a service through which customers can pay for items they purchase online – and make this service more worthwhile that the traditional alternatives. This is what the carrier is going after with a new team-up with  mobile payment platform operator Payfone.

“Verizon users will be able to conduct their purchases through smartphones, tablets and PCs. They will also be able to link their Payfone account to a credit card or debit card for larger purchases that exceed transaction limits set by carriers or regulators.”

This is a concept around which many companies are innovating, though Payfone represents a major attraction for one reason. Its platform is deeply integrated with the SS7 signaling layer of the cellular infrastructure carries use, meaning it can offer improved security, payment authentication and simplicity. All of this also adds up to a reduction in the number of abandoned deals merchants have to handle, and most likely lower fees than that of SMS payment services, and maybe even credit and debit cards.

Verizon is not the only one going after the mobile payments market. Not too long ago ROAM Data, a mobile commerce solutions provider, announced its new ROAMwallet cloud-based mobile wallet offering. According to a release, the service features a patent-pending mobile checkout API that puts an emphasis on security, 1-Tap technology and customer data stored in the cloud rather than locally.

Beyond just online mobile payments, though, Verizon and others are also looking into offline mobile truncations – or NFC. Verizon is advancing in this area via its Isis venture with AT&T and T-Mobile.