Mobile Payment Magazine

Vodafone

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Vodafone Group plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world’s second-largest measured by subscribers (behind China Mobile), with around 332 million proportionate subscribers as of 30 September 2010. It operates networks in over 30 countries and has partner networks in over 40 additional countries. It owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, the largest mobile telecommunications company in the United States measured by subscribers

The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone, chosen by the company to “reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones”.

Its primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange and it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It had a market capitalization of approximately £92 billion as of November 2010, making it the third largest company on the London Stock Exchange. It has a secondary listing on NASDAQ.

Source: Wikipedia.

Mobile Shopping for Holiday 2010 Skyrockets

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With some Black Friday reports coming in from retailers, anecdotal reports have shown significant increases in mobile shopping activity following Thanksgiving this year.

According to the WSF blog, Ruelala.com attributed 19% of sales this weekend to mobile phones, a 10x increase over last year. Another online retailer, Gilt.com said that about 15% of total revenue came from mobile commerce over the same period, while eBay reported a 30% rise in mobile activity over the previous year.

via Shopping On A Phone Finds Its Customer – Digits – WSJ.

CHARGE Anywhere

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CHARGE Anywhere is an electronic payment solutions provider, operator of a robust Payment Gateway, and creator of the patented CHARGE Anywhere POS solution.

CHARGE Anywhere’s PCI-compliant product suite includes award-winning payment solutions for many industries, provides real-time access to data and is backed by a roster of trusted industry leading partners.
[Read more…]

Marketing and Selling to the New Mobile Customer

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Sales of smartphones have reached the tipping point, with more and more consumers doing their shopping not only online, but mobile as well. With the iPhone  and a whole new crop of smartphones on Google’s Android operating system, we’re likely to look back and see the 2010 holiday shopping season as the tipping point for mobile payments and mobile commerce.

If you have a business, here’s an overview of the tools you can use to go mobile with your business:

  • Reinvent your website for the mobile platform
  • Do local search engine optimization
  • Consider doing an SMS marketing campaign
  • Create an app
  • Use video advertising
  • Use social media marketing
  • Begin offering mobile payment solutions
  • Offer deals with mobile coupons
  • Get on board with Quick Response codes
  • Ask your customers to review your business

Read the details here:

Source: Tools for Taking your Online Business Mobile

LG Star 4-inch Smartphone Details Leaked (Photos)

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LG Star 4-Inch Smartphone

Leaked "LG Star" smartphone. Image from: AndroidForums.com

Rumors and some leaked photos of the new LG “Star” 4-inch smartphone reveal that the phone has a screen resolution of 800×480, an 8 mp front-facing camera, the Tegra 2 processor, 1080p video,  and a 15000mAh battery, and will run stock gingerbread.

This is not necessarily the official name of the phone or official spec’s.

Source: Android Forum.

KreditFly Launches Mobile Payment Solution Available to 300 Million U.S. Mobile Phone Customers

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A new player in mobile has launched its mobile payment service today. KreditFly, a flexible mobile payment solutions is available to all 300 million mobile subscribers in the United States, allowing users to immediately use their mobile phones to complete online transactions, and choose the method of payment. On the merchant side, online merchants can take mobile-authenticated payments from their customers at percentage fees in the teens, as opposed to 50% for Premium SMS-based mobile payments.

With KreditFly’s relatively low fees and accessibility to all mobile users, the company expects a dramatic increase in conversion of non-paying users to paying users on the KreditFly site.

Paul Kim, Founder and CEO of KreditFly said, “KreditFly is pioneering a way for our merchant partners to pay significantly lower processing fees, while enjoying the benefit of 300 million potential customers in the US who can become paying users. Until now, the only way to convert users quickly via mobile phone without user pre-registration was to place the charge onto the mobile carrier bill, but the high fees charged to merchants and reliability issues with Premium SMS have prevented truly widespread adoption of mobile payments in the US. KreditFly has now introduced a service that maintains all of the benefits of mobile-authenticated payments, including the speed, security, ubiquity, and high conversion rates, without the excessive fees.”

<strong>How KreditFly Works</strong>

Micro-credit  process, a consumer who does not have a KreditFly account can still complete a transaction and receive his good without having to sign up with KreditFly beforehand. The buyer simply selects KreditFly during checkout, enters his mobile number into the payment page, receives a 4-digit code on his mobile phone, then enters the code back into the online payment page along with his email address. That’s it – the transaction takes only seconds, and the user gets the good from the merchant immediately. Then, within 7 days after the transaction, the user must register with KreditFly and complete payment through any of the payment options that KreditFly offers. KreditFly has developed strong, proprietary methodologies to follow up with users to ensure payment completion.

When users register with KreditFly, those who own credit cards or bank accounts can securely connect their account to these payment options. Those who do not have such options can instead choose to load up their KreditFly account with funds and use it like a debit account by purchasing various prepaid cards that are available at nationwide retail stores (e.g. Walmart, Kroger, Target, 7-Eleven, Walgreens, etc.), or by mailing in cash or money orders directly to KreditFly. Users will soon have other innovative choices, like KreditFly’s PayForMeTM option, which allows users to request one-time payment or recurring allowance from their parents or friends. KreditFly plans to continue adding new and innovative payment methods for its users over time. Regardless of the funding method, each transaction by a registered user is secured with two-factor authentication and takes just seconds to complete by entering a 4-digit code received on the mobile phone and a password established during registration.

Vu Hoang, Co-founder and CFO of Aeria Games (www.aeriagames.com), a partner of KreditFly and leading online game publisher with over 15 million members, asserted that “with KreditFly’s low fees and accessibility to all mobile users, we expect a dramatic increase in conversion of non-paying users to paying users on our site. KreditFly cleverly uses the mobile phone to extend credit to our trusted community, while creating strong accountability and follow-up for payments.”

KreditFly also brings a social aspect into play, rewarding users generously for activities like paying with KreditFly and inviting friends. Users earn KreditFly Points, which can be used like cash at partner sites to get free things like in-game items, virtual currency, music, etc.

KreditFly is launching its beta service with a select group of companies and games, including Aeria Games (www.aeriagames.com), Age of Champions (http://apps.facebook.com/ageofchampions by KlickNation), and Destiny Stone (http://apps.facebook.com/destinystone by Manic Frog). The company is growing its merchant partnership quickly and will announce additional partners shortly.

Source: Business Wire

Top Smartphones for the Holidays

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Smartphone reviews and top smartphone models available by carrier. If you’re upgrading your smartphone for 2011, here’s a list of the hottest smart phones for the holidays.

Aaccording to research firm Gartner, Android made up 25.5 percent of smartphone sales to end users in the third quarter, up from 3.5 percent in the year-ago quarter. Another theme is the emergence of the tablet as a hot device for the holidays. Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad is currently dominating the market, and is now available at both AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ). However, Samsung plans to make a big push as well, and will have its Android-powered GalaxyTab available from all four Tier 1 carriers this season. Finally, Microsoft also hopes its Windows Phone 7 platform catches fire amid the crowded market.

In Singapore, Trial NFC Mobile Payment Solution for StarHub Subscribers

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A select group of StarHub mobile plan subscribers from DBS, a Singapore bank offering services in corporate, SME, consumer and wholesale banking in Asia and the Middle East, will be part of a trial of the company’s NFC Mobile Payment Solution for everyday mobile payments.

The trial, which is expected to last 8 months, is jointly organized by DBS Bank, EZ-Link, Gemalto, MasterCard and StarHub. The service adds an N-Flex solution, which will transform the regular handsets into NFC-enabled mobile phones without any change to the device. Implementable on SIM cards across multiple mobile handsets, the N-Flex solution helps in standardization of the handsets supporting NFC. The solution supports the Single Wire Protocol (SWP), which has been endorsed by the GSM Association.

StarHub is a provider of information, communications and entertainment services to both consumer and corporate markets of Singapore. The company operates a fast two-way HSPA+ mobile network in the country that delivers up to 21Mbps data speed to the customers of its GSM network; and also runs a HFC network for delivering cable TV services such as high-def TV and on-demand services and high-speed residential broadband services to the consumers as well.

via: M2M: StarHub Enables DBS Customers to Use NFC Mobile Payment Solution.

PayPal Looks for Growth Opportunities in Mobile Payment

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PayPal’s growth is outstripping parent company eBay’s, due in part to the rapidly expanding mobile payment business. The company expects about $700 million in mobile transactions this year, though the amount still represents only about 1% of PayPal’s total transaction volume. Currently PayPal is working several angles of mobile payment, including a partnership with Bling Nation.

via NYTimes.com.

Mobio Identity Systems, Inc.

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Mobio’s identity-based platform provides  secure and convenient payments, and enables a broad range of other identity based services.

The company’s  roots are in security and authentication, and Mobio leverages their experience  to manage the transaction and transfer data between parties to optimize value for both the buyer and the seller. Coupled with 2D Barcodes, the Mobio solution can be quickly deployed through traditional marketing media and material, bringing network-based function to both physical and virtual purchases. The company provides services to payment providers, banking and point of sale partners, retailers, advertisers and consumers.

Mobio Solution
The Mobio solution involves a mobile application that runs on an expanding portfolio of smartphones, which Mobio develops and manages. The 2D Barcodes and promotions are managed with online tools that assist organizations to maximize promotional value across print, billboards, TV and internet. The solution can be stand alone, or through point of sale integration Mobio can enable buying either in venue, online, or in the mobile space.

Identity information for individuals is managed by the individual. The smartphone is an individual’s trusted device and all interactions are confirmed or rejected by the individual. Interfacing with the consumer is accomplished through online tools or even a typical point of sale. Solutions apply to wherever a 2D Barcode can be posted, which includes both the offline or virtual world.

Key Benefits
Mobio allows users to control their identity. Mobio allows for complete user anonymity, or for selective disclosure of identity as desired by the individual in both physical and virtual worlds. Mobio makes identity management and protection simple and convenient for both individuals and organizations, resulting in increased value from purchases and better management of all interactions.

The company is located in Vancouver, BC, CANADA. Clovis Najm is the company’s CEO and founder, and Tim Baur is the CTO. More on Mobio’s management team.

More information: Mobio.