A previous survey I saw indicated that top business leaders believed the card companies would come in with the payment solution that would be used and Paypal were down low in this survey.
This has now all changed.......here comes Paypal.......
PayPal Rocks Mobile Payment World By Confirming New Service
Posted: 15 Mar 2012 01:28 PM PDT
As MMW reported Wednesday, PayPal was rumored to be working on a new mobile payment device to challenge the likes of Square and Intuit – makers of the two most dominant dongles in the mobile payments space today.
On Thursday, the rumor became reality as PayPal, the payments service giant owned by eBay, confirmed its next venture, one that puts the venerable digital titan squarely in Square’s mobile payments territory.
“PayPal Here” is the new service and its reaching the United States, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong beginning today. The service is billed as the world’s first global mobile payments solution that allows small businesses to accept almost any form of payment.
The new service includes a free app and fully encrypted thumb-sized card reader, which turns any iPhone, and soon Android smartphone, into a mobile payment solution. With PayPal Here, small businesses, service providers and casual sellers can send invoices or accept debit and credit cards, checks and PayPal using one simple product.
“Helping small businesses grow and accept payments has been in PayPal’s DNA since its inception 14 years ago,” said PayPal’s vice president of mobile, David Marcus. “We’ve heard small businesses loud and clear. They don’t want to miss sales opportunities because they can’t accept the payment type that their customers want to use. They want quick access to their money, a reliable card reader, and one transparent, low fee to process these payments. I’m thrilled to launch PayPal Here because we’ve been able to bring all of these key features together into a product that’s so simple to use.”
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Having mentioned previously that 2012 is going to see the mother of all battles in relation to payment systems from mobile devices, Square seem to have come up with a system that is gaining momentum and could end up being the winner!
Square Sets The Bar Higher in Mobile Payments Processing
11 Oct 2011
Square has effectively moved from a red-hot entity in mobile payments to a white-hot force to be reckoned with.
According to new reports surfacing this week, Square is now processing $2 billion in transactions annually.
What’s more, Square COO Keith Rabois reveals in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch that the company has now partnered with some 800,000 merchant -300,000 more than were partnered with Square just last spring.
Venerable long-time credit giants Visa and MasterCard, by comparison, have only 8.2 million authorized merchants combined.
“We’re not going to sleep until we improve the entire experience of buying and selling,” Rabois said. “Every month we’ll have improvements to the product.”
As a result of the platform’s unbridled growth, Square is making the service even easier and more attractive to current and prospective users.
Previously, for instant, Square had restricted new merchant users to only $1,000 in transactions per week. That cap has now been tossed. No matter how many transactions are processed, funds are deposited into new accounts by the close of business the following day.
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They say 2012 is to be the year mobile payments will escalate as more and more people use their phones and become comfortable paying for items over them. Apple were expected to announce a Near Field Communication system recently but didn't and Google have announced their Wallet for payments. Exciting times!
Goodbye to the Traditional Wallet, Enter the Mobile Wallet
Posted: 05 Oct 2011 02:26 PM PDT
The following is a guest post from Tope Abayomi, Founder of Emityme Apps.
Can your customers pay for product and/or services through a mobile phone? If not, you should start thinking of implementing an option unless you’re comfortable leaving money on the table.
New forecasts from PayPal show that this year’s total mobile payments (TMP) volume is expected to reach $3 billion. But PayPal only serves a small part of the mobile payment market. For all mobile payments sent through all systems in the US, the total volume is set to hit the $6B mark, according to Forrester Research. PayPal’s number is double from what they expected at the start of the year, as the number of customers using their phones to pay has soared.
And they spend a total of $10 million a day, compared to $6 million back in March — only months ago.
Options for Enabling Mobile Payments
There are several ways customers can pay you on the go, ranging from the now quite ordinary, like paying for a new ring tone or giving a donation to charity through a premium text message, to the advanced with solutions like Google Wallet — which just launched in September. Some mobile payment platforms are less advanced than they look however. PayPal supports both ‘text to buy’ and payments in mobile internet browsers, with the latter being quite similar to a desktop payment. There are other providers for mobile web payments too, and of course, credit cards can be used for mobile web payments as well. But the combination of ‘mobile’ and ‘credit cards’ still makes many of us shiver, as mobile security doesn’t have the best reputation.
Google Wallet or Square — Big and small brands are heavily invested
Enter a trusted brand; Google has recently launched Google Wallet. Can you actually pay for your day to day shopping and transport with your phone? Google says you can, and it looks like there are no major competitors since Apple decided to forgo NFC integration in it’s latest iOS 5 release. NFC (Near Field Communication) chips, the very technology Google uses for its Wallet, communicates with a new type of credit card terminal, without the need to physically swipe your card. And your virtual loyalty cards are in the wallet too, so you don’t actually have to carry a traditional wallet around for much longer. Maybe only to buy an ice cream, but more about that later. How Apple will challenge this technology in later iPhone releases, very few people know, but it’s likely that retailers will choose to invest either in Google or in Apple infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Square has teamed up with Apple to develop a swiping device for the iPhone and iPad that plugs into the headphone jack. With Square, anyone can take debit or credit card payments at a flat rate of 2.75%. This may change the way we pay for products from small mobile businesses like ice cream, a burger or a newspaper. It’s a small step forward to losing the traditional wallet altogether.
Only one credit card company has so far joined Google Wallet, and it’s possible that the other card providers are waiting to see what Apple does before they invest in this new technology. Google’s temporary solution is a virtual Google prepaid card which sits within the Wallet. This card can be topped up with any credit card to begin using it for purchases. Still, It looks like a lot of investment is needed from retailers, banks and credit card companies before we can actually go shopping without our wallet, but with our phone instead.
One thing’s certain though, mobile payments are set to change our world and you need to begin planning your strategy for allowing customers to pay you on the go.
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Starbucks Perks Up Mobile Payments Program
SEPTEMBER 2011
Adam Brotman
VP and General Manager, Digital Ventures
Starbucks Coffee Co.
In January 2011, Starbucks debuted a new way for customers to pay for coffee—through the brand’s mobile app. With 2-D barcode scanners installed in nearly 9,000 of its store locations, the coffee chain has served as a model for retailers looking to enter the mobile payments space. Adam Brotman, who leads digital strategies for the Seattle-based coffee chain, talked to eMarketer’s Lauren McKay about why the mobile payment program works for Starbucks and where he thinks the market is headed.
eMarketer: Why did Starbucks get involved with mobile payments?
Adam Brotman: Innovation, responding to customer feedback and enhancing the customer experience are at the core of Starbucks’ mission. Starbucks’ mobile platform builds on the success of the Starbucks Card, which has grown from a popular stored-value card to a significant method of payment in stores. Extending the program to a mobile platform was a natural opportunity to enhance the experience and allow customers to manage their Starbucks Card on the go.
eMarketer: Why did the company go with the Starbucks Card mobile app and how does it work?
Adam Brotman: Our customers told us they want a faster and easier way to pay, and Starbucks mobile payment apps are the fastest way to pay. Customers control the mobile payment transaction by holding their mobile device in front of a scanner on the countertop and scanning the barcode on the screen to make a purchase.
Starbucks mobile apps allow users to operate the mobile payment feature nationally, check their Starbucks Card balance, reload their Starbucks Card account with any major credit card, find nearby Starbucks stores with the store locator feature and check their My Starbucks Rewards status.
eMarketer: What kind of consumer response has the mobile payments program received?
“Within nine weeks of the national launch of mobile payment, customers in stores paid more than 3 million times using our mobile payment app, and this number continues to grow at a steady rate.”
Brotman: We’ve had a great customer response. Within nine weeks of the national launch of mobile payment, customers in stores paid more than 3 million times using our mobile payment app, and this number continues to grow at a steady rate. Additionally, My Starbucks Rewards members who sync their registered Starbucks Card accounts with the app and pay for purchases earn My Starbucks Rewards benefits. The My Starbucks Rewards program has more than 1 million gold-level members, and with the convenience of Starbucks Card mobile payment, it is a powerful catalyst for customer loyalty and retention.
eMarketer: What have been the major obstacles?
Brotman: In developing the app, it was important for us to ensure that there were no barriers for entry for customers. We deployed this program independent of carriers, handset manufacturers or payment companies so as many customers as possible can download and use the app. Additionally, we were unwilling to wait for the NFC landscape to mature. We use barcodes because it meets our needs, allowing all customers to use this technology to access the fastest way to pay at Starbucks.
eMarketer: Where are mobile payments heading?
Brotman: Based on enthusiastic customer feedback and positive early results, we believe that our customers are ready to embrace mobile payment. We are committed to innovating and offering new features that customers will find useful. In fact, on June 30, we introduced a new Starbucks for iPhone app that includes a new Starbucks Card egift feature that allows fast and easy virtual gifting. We will continue to watch trends in the mobile space and listen to customer feedback to provide new features as part of our evolving mobile platform.
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Sizing the Mobile Payments Market
AUGUST 2011
Dramatic growth ahead
Mobile payments, though they have yet to take off substantially in North America, are a hot topic, with major companies like Google joining startups in the space and hoping to grab a slice of billions of dollars in potential transactions. Research firms disagree on the current size of the nascent market, but project strong growth in mobile payments and their users.
Juniper Research estimated in July that worldwide mobile payment volume would reach $240 billion this year. This forecast included both remote mobile payments (that is, payments for both digital and physical goods to a remote merchant via an e-commerce system) as well as payments made with a mobile phone at the point of sale, such as with a near-field communications device.
By 2015, Juniper predicted, worldwide mobile spending on remote and POS payments would rise to $670 billion, nearly triple this year’s figure.
Gartner had a more conservative estimate for 2011 spending: $86.1 billion worldwide, a 76% increase over 2010 payment volume. The figure includes POS transactions made through various technologies as well as purchases made over the mobile internet. Gartner noted that in developed markets, the success of app stores and major retailers driving mobile sales means that most transactions in those locations are online purchases of physical goods.
Yankee Group also released an estimate of mobile payment transaction value in July, putting the total for 2011 at $246 billion, close to Juniper’s figure. Yankee Group estimated that two-fifths of mobile payment volume would come from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while a third would come from Asia-Pacific.
Juniper Research also agreed on the top regions for mobile payments: North America, the Far East and China, and Western Europe. Juniper did not report a specific market breakdown based on region, however.
