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Samsung Pay beta arrives on every major carrier but Verizon
Samsung has opened the public beta of its new phone-based Pay service ahead of its official launch late next month. Beta participants will need to have a Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, Note 5, or S6 Edge+ (unrooted, mind you) as well as a credit or debit card from US Bank (Visa) or Bank of America (Visa or MasterCard). Additionally, they'll need cellular service from AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, or US Cellular. Verizon subscribers are SOL as the company is still "evaluating" Samsung's system. There's no word yet on when or if Verizon will actually participate. [Image Credit: FilmMagic]
US Bank intros BillPay feature for iOS and Android, lets you set up bill payments with a pic
Judging by recently announced projects like Go Mobile, it's quite clear that US Bank is working hard at keeping up with the mobile banking curve. With today's introduction of its new Mobile Photo BillPay feature, the company's giving customers using an iOS or Android device yet another nifty tool to take advantage of while on the go -- one that's set to make it easy to set up bill payments by simply taking a shot of any invoice and uploading it to an account from within the app. The experience itself is rather similar to what we're accustomed to seeing when doing things like, say, depositing checks, and US Bank's quick to point out that it's one of the first major banks in the US to bring a mobile bill-paying solution to its users. Speaking of which, US Bank account holders can try out BillPay now -- links to download from Google Play and the App Store are after the break.
Daily Update for January 14, 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
US Bank releases NFC iPhone case for 'Go Mobile' payment service trial
US Bank has announced it is kicking off a limited trial of its Go Mobile payment service via an NFC-enabled iPhone case. The Go Mobile wireless payment service is initially being rolled out in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Portland, Ore. US Bank customers in either city can visit a bank branch for information on how to obtain a case. It's not immediately apparent if the cases will be free to customers or if there's a charge. On their website US Bank says the requirements are "an iPhone 4 or 4S and [the ability] to qualify for a US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature card to use the US Bank Go Mobile Payment Service." The NFC-enabled case can be used at retailers in either city that use Visa's payWave terminals. Apple has chosen to hold its payment cards close to the vest while rival phones using Google's Android OS experiment with the Google Wallet NFC payment system. Although there were hints that iOS 6 would include some payment/digital wallet capabilities that might be supported by future mobile hardware, the current Passbook feature delivers quite a bit of payment and check-in power -- but saves a lot of engineering by simply displaying 1D barcodes that work with conventional laser scanners at retail, and 2D codes that work with airport/Amtrak check-in and other scanners.
US Bank kicks off 'Go Mobile' payment trials with NFC-equipped iPhone case
The iPhone may not come with built-in NFC, but that hasn't stopped it from finding itself at the center of plenty of NFC-based payment projects. The latest comes courtesy of US Bank, which is now kicking off trials of its new Go Mobile service in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Portland, Oregon. As with similar efforts from RBS and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (among others), this service relies on an iPhone case equipped with an NFC chip (iPhone 4 and 4S only), which lets customers pay by swiping their phone over an NFC reader at participating retailers -- in this case, anyone that accepts Visa payWave. Unfortunately, US Bank isn't offering many details about its plans beyond this initial trial, saying only that it's looking to introduce it "more broadly in 2013."
