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Barclays Pingit will soon let you send money over Twitter
Since the launch of Barclays' Pingit app, it's become almost impossible to dodge paying your share of Friday night's curry. The mobile payment service lets you transfer money to whichever mate picked up the bill, regardless of where you both bank, using just their mobile number. Come March 10th, however, you'll be able to skip entering that 11-digit number and simply use your friend's Twitter handle instead. For individuals and small business to start receiving Twitter payments through Pingit, they simply need to link their @name to their Pingit profile from within the app, and they're good to go. Now get off our back Andy -- you've been chasing us about that beer money for weeks.
Barclays is testing iBeacon tech to improve in-branch accessibility
Compared to other banks, Barclays is often way out ahead when it comes to embracing new technology. After becoming the first financial institution to let customers transfer money using only their mobile number, the company also let some business users swap PINs, passwords and authentication codes for fingerprint scanners. For its latest tech trial, Barclays wants to make things easier for customers coming into its branches, so it today announced that it's become the latest UK company to trial Beacon technology.
How to start making contactless card and NFC payments on the Tube
Using contactless cards instead of an Oyster to pay your travel fare has been possible on London buses for almost two years. From today, contactless card and NFC payments will also work on the capital's Tube, Overground, DLR and Tramlink networks, as well as on some rail services. For many commuters and regular visitors to The Smoke, using the iconic Oyster card has likely become a habit, and one you're not too bothered about breaking. While the Oyster will continue to be an easy way to get around, there are now several other options to consider. Join us as we explore the new ways to pay -- you never know, you might find one of them that little bit more convenient.
Barclays wants you to give it the finger instead of a PIN
PINs, passwords and authentication codes: they're a troublesome security solution that we'd love to see the back of. The bankers at Barclays know this, so they've looked to biometrics in a bid to banish them forever. Today, the company announced that it's teaming up with Hitachi to launch a new reader capable of scanning and recognising the unique vein patterns a customer's hand. It'll let you scan your finger to quickly access your online bank accounts and authorise payments, reducing fraud in the process. Hitachi's Finger Vein Authentication Technology does the hard work and is said to be significantly harder to spoof because it'll only work if the scanned finger is "attached to a live human body" (no finger-lopping movie plotlines happening here). Barclays' Biometric Reader will roll out first to business account holders from next year, but staff at UK branches may ask you to put your best finger forward in the very near future.
Barclays brings Pingit phone number payments to Windows Phone
Windows Phone users often have to resign themselves to getting apps months, if not years after their iOS- and Android-toting counterparts. That's especially the case for Barclays' Pingit app, which after more than two years has finally made its way to Microsoft's mobile platform. If you're not familiar, Pingit allows users to send money using only a recipient's phone number regardless of who either bank with. Banking customers have been able to check their balance and pay bills using Barclays' mobile banking app, but with new initiatives like Paym aiming to streamline mobile payments, Pingit could enjoy great momentum as a result. Despite being late to the party, Barclays' new app is still likely to enjoy some early-mover advantage, as only a handful of other banks have dedicated Windows Phone apps.
Paym platform for sending and receiving money by mobile number goes live
Paym, a new mobile payment platform that lets you send money to a mate for your share of Friday's curry with only their phone number to hand, is now live in the UK. To use Paym, you'll first need to associate your mobile number with your UK bank account either online or through your bank's mobile app. Once that's done, you can send or receive money (up to £250) from anyone that's also signed up to Paym using nothing but mobile numbers. The process may sound familiar, as Barclay's Pingit app has been capable of the same thing, regardless of which bank you're allied with, since it launched in 2012. The only real difference with Paym is that it's integrated into the systems and apps of other banks, making it a bit more visible, and convenient. Most well-known banks and building societies support Paym at launch, with the only notable exceptions being the Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest, which are expected to join up sometime this year, and Nationwide, which'll wait until early 2015 to adopt Paym. Until then, though, anyone with unsupported accounts can still use Pingit, so no excuses as to why you can't contribute towards the cab fare.
Barclays Pingit now lets UK shoppers pay for web purchases using their smartphone
Barclays Pingit is a neat multi-platform app for paying the odd bill or shooting over your share of Friday's curry to a friend, regardless of which bank you use. Today, Barclays announced new ways businesses can use the payment platform: a "Pay with Barclays Pingit" button can now be added to websites and apps, which should shorten the time between impulse and transaction -- anyone that regularly uses PayPal for online purchases will get the general idea. Also, if an advertisement should take someone's fancy, the "buy it" feature allows that person to scan a QR code, check out product info, and complete the purchase then and there. It's up to retailers to add these new options, of course, so don't expect to find them everywhere from today. QR codes just won't die, will they?
China Mobile, iPhone deal hindered by commercial, technical issues
China Mobile is the world's largest mobile carrier, and for Apple, the company represents a way to revive slumping sales in its second largest market. While both companies would benefit from having the iPhone on China Mobile's network, a number of commercial and technical issues have made that impossible. However, those barriers may be coming down in the near future, paving the way for Apple's flagship smartphone to run on the China Mobile network. The main technical issue facing Apple is that existing iPhones cannot work on China Mobile's TD-SCDMA 3G networks, nor can they operate on the rather rare TD-LTE 4G networks that the carrier is planning to deploy. As for the commercial issue, it's simple -- China Mobile doesn't want to commit to the cost of marketing and subsidizing sales of the iPhone. Both issues may be resolved if Apple introduces a new, lower-cost iPhone for emerging markets on September 10. The company is expected to be using new Qualcomm chips in the next-generation iPhones that can operate on just about any network, keeping Apple from having to create a special line of iPhones just for China Mobile. In addition, a lower-cost iPhone would make subsidies much more palatable to China Mobile, a company that desperately needs data-hungry smartphone users to pump up its revenues. Net profit for China Mobile has only risen 15 percent since 2008, and a flood of iPhone users could bolster the company's fortunes, much as it has for US carriers. Anand Ramachandran, an analyst with Barclays in Singapore, was quoted by Reuters as saying, "The circumstances and the issues that were a hindrance in the past seem to be getting resolved. So I think there's a higher probability that potentially there's something in the works." The announcements on September 10 could foretell an auspicious future for Apple and China Mobile.
Bloomberg: Cisco Systems preparing to sell Linksys, hires Barclays to handle sale
Cisco's hardware offerings are about to narrow slightly, according to Bloomberg -- the company has asked Barclays to help it get rid of its Linksys unit. The move is part of Cisco's ongoing effort to minimize its consumer businesses, the same strategy that dissolved its Flip Video division last year. The usual "people with knowledge of the situation" suggested that the company may be courting TV manufacturers, noting that the brand is likely to sell for significantly less than the $500 million Cisco paid in 2003. Both Cisco and Barclays declined to comment on the sale. We understand -- after the Connect Cloud debacle, we wouldn't want to talk either. [Thanks, Tom]
Barclays orders 8,500 iPads for massive corporate rollout
The Channel, part of the UK's Register, reports that Barclays Bank has ordered 8,500 iPads in what is believed to be one of the largest corporate deployments of the device in the UK. Barclays told The Channel that they went with the iPad because of staff demand. Among the apps the bank plans to use is Mortgage Brain, which is geared for brokers to help with the initial stages of the mortgage process. The iPads were purchased through Insight UK. [via The Next Web]
Daily Update for November 23, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Barclays releases PayTag: the NFC card you glue to your phone (video)
If you don't have a fancy NFC-enabled phone then it's hard to join the mobile wallet club. Fortunately, Barclays has introduced the PayTag that turns any phone into a contactless card. It's a square of plastic a quarter the size of a credit card that's sticky on one side -- yup, you just jam it on the back of your phone and hey presto, you can buy sandwiches, or any purchase up to £15 (£20 from June), without opening your wallet. The sticky squares will be rolling out exclusively to British Barclaycard customers over the next few months, although we're not sure what it'll do to the trade-in value of your handset.
Barclays releases Pingit mobile payments app, we go hands-on
Barclays Bank has unleashed Pingit, an iOS, Android and BlackBerry app that lets you send up to £300 ($470) a day to family, friends or technically-aware muggers. UK mobile number and bank account holders can get started in minutes as long as they've got one of the Barclays-branded PINSentry tools. You'll be asked to come up with a five-digit code that will lock the app to anyone but yourself (or, you know, that mugger) and then you can start spreading your cash around, baller-style. We set up our own account through the app and if you're curious about our impressions, you can find out what we thought after the break.
Orange and Barclaycard launch 'Quick Tap' NFC mobile payments in the UK
Yay for the UK, it's now one step closer to catching up to the Japan of last decade. Mobile carrier Orange is today launching the UK's first mobile phone contactless payment service, dubbed Quick Tap, for purchases up to £15. It works on MasterCard's PayPass system and requires you to have a Barclays debit or credit card or, alternatively, a credit card from Orange itself. Gemalto is providing the SIM-based NFC compatibility, with Samsung's entirely unrevolutionary Tocco Lite being the (admittedly affordable) launch handset. Then you just need to trust the Quick Pay app to be as secure as promised and you'll be ready to go off and use your phone as a payment terminal at over 50,000 locations, including joints run by McDonald's, Eat, Pret A Manger, Subway, and Wilkinson. A quick intro video and a more expansive press release follow after the break.
AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon announce Isis national mobile commerce network
Just in time for the total economic collapse of Europe and the rise of the cyber-nomadic tribes, the kids at Discover, Barclaycard, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have a name for their mobile phone-based payment system: Isis. Essentially it remains what we heard from Bloomberg a few months back: a system for using an app on your phone to send payments to a POS system using NFC technology. The Isis team thinks it has "the scope and scale necessary to introduce mobile commerce on a broad basis," and we wish them the best. But we know how it all ends anyways: with the lucky among us dead, and the rest of us living in caves, hiding from death-dealing robots, and bartering for what we can't scrounge from the ruins of our once-great cities. PR after the break.
AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile team up to transform your smartphone into a credit card
Contactless payments made using your phone are hardly a new idea in themselves, but when three of the big four US carriers decide to unite behind it, the time might have come to start paying closer attention. Bloomberg reports that AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are about to test the NFC payment waters with pilot schemes in Atlanta and three other cities, potentially aided by partnerships with Discover Financial Services and British bankers Barclays Plc. This would require all-new readers for merchants and embedded NFC chips in phones, but we reckon plenty of people might be happy to pay a small premium to streamline their lives that little bit more and leave the plastic behind. Either way, Visa's nascent attempts at conquering the mobile just got themselves a big old cabal-sized competitor.
Analyst roundup: iPhone sales could drop, production cuts possible
Several analysts have been lowering their expectations for iPhone sales during the first quarter of 2009, pointing to possible cuts in the number of units manufactured, according to a series of articles by Cult of Mac's Ed Sutherland. Barclays Capital today cut its estimate of iPhone sales to 5 million handsets, down from 6.2 million. Yesterday, BMO Capital lowered its expectations to a slightly-better 5.6 million units, but still down from an earlier estimate of 6.6 million. On Wednesday, UBS said iPhone production could drop to 6.7 million units, down from 9 million in the last quarter. Earlier this week, FBR Capital Markets analyst Craig Berger said that Apple could have already cut iPhone production by 40 percent. Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes suggested that Apple could cut prices on iPhones and develop a new low-end handset to stimulate sales, taking the lead from how the iPod and iPod mini sold. Reitzes also speculated that a low-cost laptop could sell 3.5 million units per year. It's unclear if Apple will take Reitzes' advice, as Steve Jobs said at last month's laptop event that "We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that."
UK Chip and Pin machines headed to the home
Barclays bank is doling out at least 500,000 Chip and Pin machines (the fancy UK term for credit card reader) for use in the home by its customers. The system is similar to the key fob that PayPal offers to its users, which generates six-digit passwords for use in supplement to the traditional username and password to add a layer of security to your PayPal account. The card readers that Barclays is shipping out generate an eight-digit number for logging onto your online banking account, but first you have to swipe your card and enter your pin number. You're also required to perform the same action for money transfers. This should beef up security considerably for users, and guard people from being compromised fully by phishing attacks, but we're fairly certain your money and identity will never be safe until you bury it all deep in the woods somewhere, later to be discovered by three camping buddies who are soon to become mortal enemies... we'll stop now.
