mobilepayments
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Apple Stores stocking Square credit card readers
Jack Dorsey's über-popular credit card readers got a big thumbs-up from Cupertino this week. Square's devices are hitting Apple's 235 US retail locations and Apple.com for $9.95 a pop -- plus the 2.75 percent that the startup takes off the backend each time you use the reader -- or you can always just sign up for a free one over on Square's site. The iPhone / iPad / iPod touch plug-in accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and yes, even American Express. The CEO of VeriFone will no doubt have plenty to say about the matter. Update: It turns out you get a $10 redemption code in the box when you buy a Square reader at an Apple store, so it is still technically free (just not, you know, when you buy it). [Thanks, Michael]
Discover cardholders can send money to anyone with a cell phone, email address
With NFC payment systems just starting to roll out in the US, it'll be awhile yet before you can cut up those credit cards for good. But in the present, at least, you can use your handset to make sure you don't get stuck with a $100 bar tab... again. Discover just announced that it will let its cardholders send money to people in 60 countries -- so long as they have either a cell phone number or email address. As AllThingsD notes, Visa and American Express have hatched similar plans, though Discover is the first of the bunch to partner with PayPal. While people sending money don't need PayPal accounts, people receiving moola do -- or, at least, they must be willing to create one. For senders the service is free and, in fact, they get 0.25 percent cash back for the first $3,000 exchanged. As for Discover, a smaller player than Visa and MasterCard, it hopes some of PayPal's 230 million customers will sign up for a shiny new credit card while they're at it.
Sprint says its NFC-based payment service will launch this year, beat other carriers to the cash register
AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon may have all lined up to support the so-called Isis mobile payment system for cellphones, but Sprint has decided to go it alone for various reasons, and it's now saying it plans to beat the others to market. As Bloomberg reports, Sprint is already working with payment networks and handset makers on its own NFC-based system, and it says it plans to roll out the service sometime this year, while Isis has previously stated that it only expects to be ready in 2012. While details are otherwise still fairly light, Sprint says that customers will be able to have purchases billed to their regular credit card statements rather than their phone bill, and that it will rely on alternatives to taking a percentage each transaction for itself as Isis plans to do. Of course, while this is Sprint's latest move in the space, it's far from its first -- in fact, it's been running NFC trials as far back as 2007. [Thanks, Carl]
Amazon said to be considering NFC-based mobile payment service
As you may be aware, Amazon does actually already make it easier for you to shop at places other than Amazon.com with its Amazon Payments service, and it now looks like it might even be thinking about expanding things to brick and mortar stores as well. More specifically, Bloomberg is reporting that Amazon is exploring a mobile payment service based on NFC technology, which would let you pay for items and receive things like loyalty points using nothing other than an NFC-equipped cellphone. Not surprisingly, Amazon is also said to be considering some other features that would send folks back to Amazon.com -- Bloomberg gives the example of someone shopping for jeans in a retail store who can't find the right size, and says that they could simply scan the jean's tag to order a pair online. Details are otherwise a bit light, and the service is apparently still not quite a sure thing, although a person familiar with the matter says Amazon will decide whether to go forward with it or not "in the next three to five months."
Android Market gets in-app billing, your virtual nickels are now spoken for
Google said they were coming this week, and here they are -- Android apps can now have their own miniature storefronts for in-app purchases galore. You'll find Tap Tap Revenge, Comics, Gun Bros, Deer Hunter Challenge HD, WSOP3 and Dungeon Defenders: FW Deluxe accept your credit card for microtransactions starting this very instant, and Android developers can start building similar functionality into their own creations right now. Head on over to our source link for instructions on how to shake those extra coins out. Don't want to commit to a full transaction yourself? Hit the break for a quick video refresher of how in-app purchases work. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Windows Phone 7 getting NFC payments in next update?
Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 is still catching up to the competition in terms of apps and basic features, but when it comes to mobile payments it might not be left in the dust -- Bloomberg has two anonymous sources who say that Microsoft will outfit the next version of Windows Phone 7 with software support for near-field communications, and bake NFC tech into WP7 smartphones as early as this year. As we heard earlier this week, Google's reportedly working on a similar plan, complete with partnerships in the credit card space, RIM may or may not be arguing with carriers over its Bank of America trial, and the general consensus around the water cooler is that Apple won't be pursuing contactless payments this year. Yes, it's an exciting time to work in industries that rely solely on money changing hands.
Gemalto bringing NFC payments to phones of any intelligence with MasterCard PayPass SIM
We're seeing NFC chips showing up and tickling the innards of more and more mobile devices, but at this rate it's going to be ages before we see some proper market penetration. Gemalto may have just jump-started that process with a new NFC on a SIM card design that's certified by MasterCard PayPass. It's similar to the company's Zuckerberg on a SIM project we heard about last month, but this time it's wirelessly paying for a drink and not wirelessly telling your friends how much you just had to drink. This means near-field wireless payments could be brought to nearly every GSM phone on the planet, also allowing for secure on-device transactions, like adding more minutes to a pre-paid phone. This is said to be the beginning of a "mass commercial roll out," giving us reason to hope that soon forgetting our wallets at home will be a feature and not a bug.
American Express challenges PayPal with 'Serve' digital payment platform
American Express may have been lagging a bit behind the likes of Visa and Mastercard with digital payments over the years, but it's making a pretty big play in the field today. It's just announced its new "Serve" digital payment platform, which is more or less a straight-on competitor to PayPal. That means you'll be able to transfer funds to your Serve account from your bank account or credit card, send money to others using either the website or mobile app (currently available for iOS and Android), and even link your account to a reloadable Serve card, which you can use at any retailer that accepts American Express credit cards. Nothing fancy like NFC payments just yet, but American Express is promising to "quickly evolve" the platform by adding new features and functionality, and it's hoping to kick start things by waiving most of the consumer fees for the first six months. Head on past the break for the complete press release, and hit up the source link below if you'd like to sign up.
WSJ: Google teams with MasterCard and Citigroup for NFC payments, also files patent app
Ever since the Nexus S and its nifty little NFC chip hit the market, there's been speculation that El Goog was planning a foray into the mobile payment arena currently occupied by the likes of Charge Anywhere. Now, it looks like that plan may be in high gear, as the Wall Street Journal reports that Google's secretly partnered with MasterCard and Citigroup to test out just such a system. According to the publication, the early demo pairs "one current model and many coming models of Android phones" with existing Citigroup-sponsored credit and debit cards, and is using the phones' NFC chips with those VeriFone readers we recently heard about. What's more, a newly-published patent application from the crew in Mountain View may hint at the software behind such things. The application describes a service that sets up Google as a third-party broker who receives the shopping cart info of customers placing orders via a device (including those of the mobile variety), allows them to select shipping and other options, and provides the total order cost. It then collects payment, coordinates shipment, and forwards order information to the seller to complete the transaction. So companies can have Google handle all their payment-taking needs in return for getting a sneak peek at what folks are buying -- something that the WSJ's sources say might be a component of the setup Google's testing right now -- as opposed to other third-party services, like Paypal, that only obtain and exchange payment info with merchants. Looks like Alma Whitten (Google's Director of Privacy) has her work cut out assuaging the concerns such a system will inevitably create in an increasingly privacy-minded populace. Sean Hollister contributed to this report.
Charge Anywhere update turns Nexus S into full-on mobile payment terminal
Processing mobile payments via an external dongle? That's so early 2011. Charge Anywhere has a less troublesome idea, and if you're the lucky owner of a Google Nexus S, you could soon be accepting cold, hard virtual cash via NFC. For those already familiar with the space, you'll know that this very company already has applications out for the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android devices, but all of those obviously require a credit card swiping mechanism to be connected. According to CNET, the latest version will include support for the NFC module embedded within the Nexus S, enabling it to be a full-on mobile payment terminal with no additional hardware required. Both MasterCard PayPass and Visa Blink payments could be ingested, but don't go searching for the update in the Android Market; the company's done with the new build, but it won't be let loose to the public until it's ran past larger customers first. We don't get the impression that the NFC-compatible version will run any more than the $9.99 per month, but it's obviously a wait-and-see affair for now.
Carriers at odds with RIM over NFC payment data
We've already heard a fair bit about RIM's plans for NFC-based mobile payments, but it's starting to look like some of those plans don't quite line up with what the carriers have in mind. As the Wall Street Journal reports, there's a brewing dispute between RIM and a number of carriers including AT&T, T-Mobile and Rogers over just how NFC payment-related data, or "credentials," are stored, and who actually controls that data. For its part, RIM unsurprisingly wants to store the data in a secure area of the phone itself, which would obviously tie folks to their BlackBerry more than ever, while the carriers are pushing to have that data simply stored on the phone's SIM card, which would let customers move from one phone to another more easily. While things apparently haven't gotten that heated just yet, it does certainly seem like there's a bit of a fight in store -- according to the Wall Street Journal, RIM is already reaching out to banks on its own in an effort to strike some deals, while Canadian carriers have apparently been telling RIM in a "gentle" way that "you won't be doing this."
Google said to be preparing NFC checkout trials for San Francisco and New York City
Google does not sell hardware, Eric Schmidt told us as much, but the company has few qualms about buying the stuff up. Bloomberg is reporting, on the authority of a pair of well informed sources, that the Mountain View team is about to buy up "thousands" of VeriFone's NFC payment terminals, with a view to installing them in stores across San Francisco and New York City. Those two technophile cities represent the most receptive audience NFC is likely to get in the US, and Google will be hoping that users there will be able to appreciate the convenience of being able to swipe their Nexus S (or other similarly equipped handset) to complete payments. We already know that Schmidt and co. consider the concept of "mobile money" a priority and there have been rumblings of Google setting up its own payment system, which together make this hookup with VeriFone appear highly credible. Bloomberg expects the trials to commence within the next four months, just in time to make iPhone 5 users green with envy.
VeriFone puts money near mouth, says it'll include NFC in all new POS terminals
Well, here's a bold step forward for NFC -- payment solution provider Verifone says its new batch of point-of-sale terminals will come standard with the touch-to-pay wireless technology. That's the word from Near Field Communications World, who quizzed the company just a few days after CEO Douglas Bergeron called on the payments industry to foot the NFC bill, saying "The retail point of sale represents a point of convergence for smartphone-initiated payments, social networking and electronic couponing, but it won't happen if retailers are expected, on faith, to absorb the costs of making it work." Sounds like a company that's very keen on letting us pay by swiping our phone. Unfortunately, he didn't say when such technology might roll out.
Ohio Girl Scouts accepting mobile payments for cookies, your thin mint craving starts now
Short on cash but wishing you could stock up on Girl Scout cookies? Then you no longer have an excuse -- at least if you're in Northeast Ohio -- as the local Girl Scout group there has teamed up with Intuit to accept credit cards using the company's GoPayment app (and accompanying card reader) for iOS and Android. What's more, while the Ohio group is the first to sign up, Intuit is now also extending the same offer (which includes reduced transaction fees) to Girl Scout organizations across the US -- something tells us it won't have much trouble getting attracting interest.
Square mobile payment system gets simpler pricing, keeps angular shape
If you hate doing math and you run a small business then surely you've looked longingly at mobile credit card systems like Square's longingly. No handling of cash certainly would make life easier, but Square's system of fees and surcharges weren't exactly easy to figure out themselves. Now the company has simplified things, dropping the $.15 per-transaction fee for swiped purchases, charging a simple 2.75 percent on each transaction. If, however, that transaction is being made without swiping the actual card the $.15 transaction fee sadly comes back, but the percentage fee has gone down from 4.0 percent to 3.5. So, a little less of your handiwork will be absorbed by the man. [Thanks, Brent]
Morpho's NFC / WiFi-enabled keyfob brings wireless payments, card management to the everyman (video)
Not interested in picking up an NFC-enabled smartphone? No matter -- Morpho's got you covered. The outfit was demonstrating a newly finished Simlink NFC keyfob here at Mobile World Congress, intended to provide contactless payment capability for those who lack it in their existing mobile. Rather than stopping at just payments, this dongle also supports frequent flier cards, membership accounts and pretty much any other members-only situation that may ever use NFC check-ins and registration. There's even a WiFi module here and an onboard web server, enabling any WiFi-enabled phone to immediately see your most recent transactions as well as what data / cards you have stored on the device. We're told that the onboard battery can last around a week if you don't use it continuously, and a simple micro-USB connector is responsible for charging. The only unfortunate part is the size -- it's hardly inconspicuous, but we're guessing revision two will lose quite a bit of weight. This particular model should go on sale by the end of Q4, with pricing to be determined. Head on past the break for a brief demonstration, you big spender, you. %Gallery-116875%
Apple job posts point to built-in NFC capabilities for iPad / iPhone
Ladies and gentlemen of the, ahem, jury, we intend to show -- through rumors and circumstantial evidence -- that Apple might very well be building Nexus S-like NFC capabilities into next-generation iPhones and iPads. We present for your consideration exhibits A, B, and C: three Apple job posts, seeking two managers of global payment platforms and one test engineer for iPhone hardware. According to the original post, the right engineer possesses a background in both ICT (information and communication technology) and RFID (radio frequency identification), which forms the basis for NFC. Suspiciously, Apple removed the "ID" in "RFID" sometime in the past 24 hours. Still not convinced of Apple's NFC involvement? Consider this: Apple's manager of global payment platforms is tasked with contributing "to the analysis and development of new payment types and processes." Okay, so there's not a smoking gun in sight, but a little innocent conjecture never hurt anybody.
iPhone 5 and iPad 2 will come with NFC built in, suggests well-connected analyst
You'll no doubt be aware of our (well justified) distrust for anything that passes a tech analyst's lips, but this time's a little different. Richard Doherty of Envisioneering Group cites "engineers who are working on hardware" for Apple's latest project in asserting what that project actually is: NFC capabilities are apparently being built into the next generation of iPhone and iPad devices. Contactless payments via NFC have been steadily building up in hype and adoption recently -- at least in the western hemisphere, the stuff is commonplace in Japan -- and Doherty predicts Apple will make its move into the field with some new hardware and an accompanying "revamp" of iTunes. The idea would be to allow the use of iTunes gift card balances and the credit card info Apple already has from you to make swiping payments at compatible retail outlets. Apple is said to be planning enticements, like loyalty credits and points, to get you using its service in the place of the competition, and there are already a couple of software patent applications from the company detailing other potential uses for the technology. All of which could mean absolutely nothing, of course, but this seems like an awful lot of smoke for there not to be a fire under it.
Starbucks lets you pay for that Trenta with the iPhone in your shaking, overcaffeinated hands
Expanding a trial that had already been underway in a few markets, Starbucks is now rolling out its Starbucks Card mobile app nationally with payment capability built-in, meaning you needn't reach into your wallet, pocketbook, or purse just because you're jonesing for that midday caffeine fix. Instead, you can fire up the app -- which supports the iPhone, iPod touch, and a number of BlackBerry models -- and hold up a barcode on the screen to a scanner in the store, at which point monies will be automagically deducted from your Starbucks Card account and transferred back to the mothership in exchange for high-octane brew. The circle of life, as it were. Follow the break for the full press release.
Intuit now offering GoPayment service without fees through February, also throws in a free card reader
Perhaps just to show that it is not hip to be a Square, Intuit has rolled out a serious incentive for businesses to jump on the GoPayment bandwagon. Since we last saw the mobile payment service, the company has decided to offer customers a free card reader (while supplies last) and no monthly service fees in an effort to expand its user base. Primarily aimed at those processing low sales volume, the deal includes $0.15 per-transaction fee. That's half the $0.30 fee for high-volume users, who still get the complimentary reader for signing up, but have to pay $12.95 monthly for the privilege. The offer is exclusively available to new customers, and the gratis reader only works with some phones (far fewer than the number of phones that work with the app itself), but hey, free is free. Let's just hope Intuit's system doesn't suffer from the security problems of its rival.
