Mobile Bonus Cards: Legal questions in connection with customer- and bonussystems through mobile phones

In Austria in 2008 already 90.4% of the population had at least one mobile phone and at least 55% of the households had a broadband Internet connection. Wherever the purchasing process does not require the physical presence of the buyer or where it is not about custom-made individual pieces, online shopping is becoming more popular every year. The almost blanket coverage of the mobile phone and the current trend for smartphones seem to be a solid ground on which recent developments in the digitization of shopping behavior can build up. These customer loyalty and payment systems developed for mobile phones are to be examined in the present work in their legal context and in the light of selected areas of law, thereby uncovering problem areas and legal gray areas as well.