Jason Franklin
Mobile payments are here, there is no doubt about it. The technology is popping up everywhere. Rewind back a decade ago and cash and plastic were still the two major ways to pay for things. Although many people were using PayPal for peer to peer payments, and to pay for things on websites such as Ebay, Amazon, Overstock, and online, the technology wasn’t being completely utilized. Today the new payment market that has been slowly emerging over the last decade is coming to the light. Mobile payment advancements using NFC, QR Codes, and P2P technology have officially arrived. We have spoken in past blogs about some of the companies that are bringing this to you which include: Visa (V.me), Vodafone, Apple (Passbook), Google (Google Wallet), and PayPal just to name a few.
It is already possible to make P2P (Peer to Peer) payments using platforms provided by many larger banks including Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo from your smart phone. If you owe a friend money, or would like to transfer money into a family members account, simply log into your bank account online, or use the mobile app and use the transfer option. Not all banks are set up with this technology yet, but most of the bigger ones are. It is predicted that even the smallest banks will adapt this technology in the next few years as these types of payments and transactions become more common and trusted by customers. In an article in Nation’s Restaurant News, by Alan J. Liddle (November, 19 2012) the forecast in growth of mobile payment transactions are discussed. According to Gartner Group the worldwide value of transactions using mobile payment technologies will quadruple, forecasting a market worth $617 billion with 448 million users by 2016. The article goes on to discuss that restaurants are divided on mobile payment platforms being there are many options. One option Starbucks adopted is the ability to buy coffee using a smart phone app powered by Square that is offered at most Starbucks locations.
Of all the exciting mobile technologies we have covered, the ING “Bump P2P” app utilizes a technology I think all P2P mobile payment apps should adopt. ING Direct is offering an awesome app called Bump P2P. This app is similar to the Iphone app that surfaced about 3 years ago allowing users to “Bump” phones and exchange contact information such as name, phone number, email, etc. Android and other app companies have similar apps that compare to the original “Bump” app now and it seems to be a pretty common and useful app among smart phone users. What ING has done using P2P is created a Bump app that allows you to pay, receive, transfer, or exhange money using the Bump P2P app. This is a great feature I would definitely use given the opportunity by my bank or merchant. It’s simple and efficient for quick payments.
