Mobile phones have increasingly become tools that consumers use for banking, payments, budgeting, and shopping. Given the rapid pace of developments in the area of mobile finance, the Federal Reserve Board began conducting annual surveys of consumers’ use of mobile financial services in 2011. This 78-page report, “Consumers and Mobile Financial Services” (March, 2015) examines trends in the adoption and use of mobile banking, payments, and shopping behavior and how the emergence of mobile financial services affects consumers’ interaction with financial institutions.
On Track Innovations (OTI) Receives Orders for New Contactless Mobile Payment Product
On Track Innovations Ltd., a provider of contactless smartcard card solutions, has received initial orders for its recently announced contactless mobile payment product.
OTI’s COPNI (Contactless Payment and NFC Insert) enables mobile network operators (MNOs) to support Near Field Communication (NFC) functionality and contactless payment applications from major card associations, mass transit ticketing (with MIFARE support) as well as loyalty programs and other proprietary programs. COPNI is an NFC add-on to mobile phones and is independent of the SIM, handset type and model.
A COPNI-enabled mobile phone is a platform that enables MNOs to dynamically manage applications such as e-coupons and loyalty programs. Simply tapped near a contactless reader, the COPNI-enabled mobile phone can be used in a broad range of payment transactions including prepaid, credit and debit, as well as loyalty programs and other NFC related applications.
“The demand of MNOs for NFC, payment and enhancing their value proposition and the lack of hardware-ready phones creates an opportunity for our COPNI product,” said Oded Bashan, chairman and CEO, OTI. “Our innovative solution for NFC provides mobile network operators with an after-market, cost effective solution to get there.”
Source: Global News Wire
PaymentOne to Demonstrate Android Payment Solution at 2011 Mobile World Congress
PaymentOne Corp. will demonstrate its latest integrated mobile payment solution for Android based on the company’s patented Propensity-to-Pay fraud and security technology.
Called “PayOne,” the Android solution will be demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain, February 14 through February 17, 2011.
The PayOne Android solution allows consumers to click and use any one of their phone numbers to securely pay for applications, in-game extras, and related digital services. Consumers experience a seamless payment solution without leaving the application or game, and no credit card, pre-registration or account signup is required.
Developers and Publishers can integrate PayOne Android with minimal effort using the PayOne Developer SDK and benefit from the over 1100 carrier billing relationships PaymentOne has around the world. PayOne Android also provides the unique ability for publishers to maintain their brand and look/feel throughout the payment experience.
The Android market is rapidly expanding and according to Nielsen data, Android has increased its share of the Smartphone market by 10X in less than 18 months. Over 150,000 applications have been developed and are being broadly distributed on and off of the Android Marketplace, and market analysts project this market to exceed $6 billion in the next 3 years.
“Publishers and Developers are looking for simple open solutions that enable direct monetization of their applications in multiple distribution channels,” said Joe Lynam, President and CEO of PaymentOne. “We have been successfully partnering with digital merchants to monetize their services for over 10 years, and as every screen becomes a point of sale, from smart phones to tablets, and personal computers to TVs, our focus is to continue to provide payment services across all types of applications and devices that allow simple, safe and secure payments.”
PaymentOne’s AnyPhone is the only implementation of a seamless mobile payment solution that accepts any phone number and is backed by the patented Propensity-to-Pay technology that significantly reduces fraud and charge-backs.
Source: Business Wire
TIO Networks Launches PG&E Mobile Bill Payment App
TIO Networks has launched the Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) “mobile bill pay app”. This mobile payment app is an industry first by a major Utility and provides up to six million PG&E customers in Northern and Central California with the convenience of paying their utility bills on an expedited basis through their iPhones and iOS devices.
“Almost immediately from the pre-launch phase in late December 2010, we have had strong consumer interest as several thousand PG&E customers have already downloaded the App and are paying their bills” said Hamed Shahbazi, Chairman and CEO of TIO Networks. “We will be expanding the payment platform to include Android and Blackberry versions in the near future. This product was a collaborative effort with PG&E and we appreciate their strong commitment to the project.”
Millions of PG&E customers can now download the TIO mobile application from Apple’s app store for free, and enjoy the convenience of bill payment on the go, anytime and anywhere. The TIO payment application features a user-friendly interface on iOS powered devices for real-time access to a customer’s account balance and intuitive instructions, in either English or Spanish, for fast payment with Visa, Master Card or through a customer’s bank.
Source: Business Wire
Utiba Launches Mobile Remittance Initiative
Utiba Pte., a provider of mobile financial transaction software, has launched a new initiative targeting the international mobile remittances market, offering a neutral corridor routing and currency exchange clearinghouse for mobile and traditional money remittances.
The goal of the Singapore-based company, is to create the leading mobile to mobile remittance clearinghouse in the world; its services include corridor routing, transaction settlement, and foreign currency exchange, serving global telecommunications carriers, money transfer operators, and financial service providers.
Traditionally, official remittance services are tethered to brick and mortar establishments and their higher cost structures. The limited geographic footprint and higher fee structure of these services force many of the least economically developed strata of society to use unofficial remittance channels.
However, with the mobile phone having reached near ubiquity worldwide — global penetration is above 70% and growing — there is a new means of delivering financial services to the so called “bottom of the pyramid.”
Successful commercial mobile commerce and mobile money services in Asia and Africa, approximately 30% built on the Utiba mobile financial transaction platform, have proven the viability of the mobile phone for delivering financial services. Remittances, international and domestic, constitute an important financial flow to the least developed nations and populations of the world.
The sum of official and unofficial international remittances in 2008 was estimated by the World Bank at $800 billion, with approximately half going through unofficial channels. Unofficial channels, like the trust based Hawala system, typically are used for transactions of lower value and greater frequency. Using the mobile network, remittance service providers will have a greater reach and lower cost structure, which will enable them to compete with unofficial channels.
Justin Ho, Co-CEO of Utiba, commented on the launch, “Our U:Hub remittance platform has been pioneering mobile remittances since 2007 when it facilitated the world’s first mobile to mobile international remittance transaction between Globe Telecom in the Philippines and Maxis in Malaysia, both of whom use the Utiba platform. We look forward to bringing mobile remittance capabilities to all of our 32 global customers and more. Creating this new initiative is a natural extension of our vision of empowering everyone to make mobile payments.”
Clients — mobile network operators, governments, banks, financial institutions, money transfer operators, and other global financial value added service companies — will receive the back office management, superior fraud controls, platform intelligence, and credit/risk management and settlement capabilities of the Utiba U:Hub platform, in addition to the real time neutral and efficient corridor routing and settlement services that are core to the service. The U:Hub platform on which the service is based was certified as part of Western Union’s Mobile Vendor Program in 2009 and currently handles more than $100 million in transactions per month.
MXit Signs Agreement with wiWallet to Offer Mobile Payments
MXit has signed an exclusive agreement with wiWallet, that will soon make it possible for MXit’s 10-million active users to make use mobile payment services.
wiWallet is a subsidiary of UCS Group Limited (“UCS”), a provider of retail software within South Africa, where the Group services 95% of SA’s retailers.
This agreement will enable MXit to bring mobile payment services to its active user base of approximately 10-million strong in South Africa within the 2nd quarter of this year.
via Memeburn.
Google and Apple NFC Mobile Payments Battleground
Recent reports have suggested that the Apple iPad and the iPhone 5 will have integrated Near Field Communication (NFC) capabilities that can be used for mobile payments, as well as other applications. NFC involves a chip that transmits a short range, high frequency signal in order to communicate with nearby devices or transfer payments.
Google also has grand plans in the mobile payment space through Android OS phones. Google’s Eric Schmidt talked about Google and mobile payments at the recent Web 2.0 Summit when he announced that the “Gingerbread” Android release will have integrated NFC.
More via Search Engine Watch.
Jack Dorsey’s Mobile Payment Company Square Gets Times Square Billboard
Square, the mobile payment company co-founded by Jack Dorsey, has fittingly put a big billboard up in New York’s Times Square. Such aggressive marketing is a big change from the San Francisco-based company’s past strategy. Last week, COO Keith Rabois told Fast Company of the difficulties of creating awareness for the young startup. “Not everyone knows about Square, but everyone should,” he said. “Our job is to communicate that, and some of that communication–particularly when we’re talking about communicating to 180 million Americans–cost some amount of money.”
And at the time, it was money Square wasn’t necessarily willing to drop. According to Rabois, Square’s marketing budget in January: a measly $3,000. That’s a far cry from the tens of thousands of dollars a Times Square advertisement typically costs, though a Square spokesperson tells us the billboards were actually a gift to the company and didn’t cost them anything.
via Fast Company.
MXit Enters South Africa Mobile Payment Arena
Stellenbosch, South Africa’s MXit signed an exclusive agreement for IM providers with wiWallet to bring mobile payment services to all of MXit’s active users.
wiWallet is a subsidiary of UCS Group Limited, the largest provider of retail software within South Africa, where the Group services 95% of South Africa’s top retailers.
This agreement will enable MXit to bring mobile payment services to its active user base of approximately 10-million strong in South Africa within the 2nd quarter of this year.
via MyBroadband News.
South African Mobile Payment Gateway Will Bypass Visa and Mastercard Systems
A local technology company called Lidonga Technology says it will launch a mobile payment gateway, a first for South Africa. The system will circumvent the use of foreign-owned Visa and Mastercard payment systems, saving the country billions of rands that would normally go to these foreign switching companies.
Chief Technology Officer at Lidonga Technology Roan Murray said Visa and Mastercard were making billions from South Africans who used debit and credit cards to shop as the country does not have an alternative payment system. Murray said Lidonga had designed a system called mokotla (a Sotho name that can be translated to mean a carrying case or wallet in this situation) to change this.
via Moneyweb.
Mobile Parking Company NOW! Innovations Gets Investment from Estonian Development Fund
The Estonian Development Fund, together with private co-investors has invested 1.5 million EUR in NOW! Innovations. The company has developed a payment platform for parking and other purposes, already operational in a number of countries.
NOW! Innovations’ main market is the United States, where the ParkNOW! mobile parking service is among the market leaders. The largest client is Montgomery County in Greater Washington D.C., which is also with more then 14 000 parking spaces the second largest mobile parking installation anywhere in the U.S. New installations are pending in a number of other markets, including Russia, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Mexico, and Singapore.
According to Heidi Kakko, Head of Investment Division at the Estonian Development Fund, the mobile parking market is still in the early development stages in most markets, unlike in Estonia and a few other European countries, where up to 90% of all parking sessions are paid with a mobile phone. “We believe that the markets will be divided during the next five years. The biggest winners will be the companies with experience, offering a Solution as a Service. We bet on NOW! Innovations with it’s top quality platform and experience to become the market leader in the U.S. market. The size of the parking market in North America and Europe only is estimated at 65 billion dollars.”
Kalju Rüütli, CEO and one of the founders of NOW! Innovations: “The ParkNOW! platform was built based on years of experience of providing IT services to large telecommunications companies and working together with major international parking operators. The platform is highly modular and flexible, thanks to which it was for example very smooth to adapt it to NFC technology.”
NOW! Innovations was established in 2003, and it specializes on solutions for issuing mobile permits and tickets. It is among the five leading providers of mobile parking solutions in Europe and America. Last year it was selected the 13th most outstanding company in the world by Guidewire Group, a global market intelligence and advisory firm.
Estonian Development Fund has been established by the Estonian Parliament for promoting foresighted projects and investing in innovative ambitious Estonian technology enterprises. NOW! Innovations is the 12th investment in their portfolio.
Source: NOW! Innovations