Tag: mobile payments

Paytm app suddenly taken down from Apple App Store

| December 28, 2016

The largest mobile wallet in India has been delisted for iPhone and iPad due to technical problems.

At a time when mobile payments have taken off explosively in India, the Paytm app has been delisted for iPhone and iPad users. The Apple App Store no longer offers the mobile wallet after Paytm found technical issues such as bugs. The company worked hard to produce an update to iron out the problems and was awaiting Apple’s approval at the time of the writing of this article.

The temporary removal of the mobile payments application occurred on the heels of a service outage.

The Paytm app had been experiencing issues. The entire service was behaving oddly last week and for a stretch before then. It suffered a serious outage and then triggered a range of issues for days following, even after the mobile wallet was taken down from the App Store. That said, many people were quite surprised when the application was entirely delisted.

Paytm App - Apple App StoreThe reason is that while all updates for iPhone and iPad apps require Apple’s approval, the older version of the application will typically remain available for download until the updates receive the nod. In this case, the updates were awaiting approval and the entire app was taken down.

The reason for the Paytm app removal was not because Apple decided to intervene and delist it.

Instead, it was the choice of Paytm to take its mobile wallet down. According to a spokesperson from the company, “We have currently removed the app from the App Store to stop adding incremental new users to our existing base.”

The company then expanded on the statement by making a blog post that read “Today we found a bug in our iOS App where certain app users were not able to pay thereby hanging their app. Soon the system logged them out preventing them from further accessing their account.”

Currently, Paytm has more than 170 million registered users. The version of the app that runs on Android and the web-based platform are working without any problems at all, says the company. It continues to be available to download at Google Play and for browser users.

This may be good news for Android device users as the Paytm app and other mobile wallets have become a necessity for millions of people for the last couple of months. Ever since India decided to take some of its larger currency notes out of circulation – which are now being replaced with new versions – there has been a shortage of cash and consumers have needed to look to other methods of paying for products and services.

Mobile payment partnership forms between PayPal and Citigroup

| December 19, 2016

The two companies have decided to work together to make it easier for consumers to use smartphones in-store.

PayPal Holdings Inc. has entered into a new mobile payment partnership with Citigroup Inc. The goal is to let customers easily use smartphones to pay for products and services at a checkout counter.

The agreement between the two companies will not impact PayPal’s main e-commerce business.

The PayPal online payments and peer-to-peer transactions will not be connected with the new mobile payment partnership. Instead, it will open up a new direction for the company to be able to participate in smartphone transactions. It offers the ability to carry out transactions with in-store purchases.

Mobile Payments Partnership - Business PartnershipThis new agreement has raised certain questions about PayPal’s growth strategy. Some have questioned whether or not it has the potential to bring this business to a size that would rise above the lost fees.

PayPal’s CEO assures critics that the mobile payment partnership has taken this into account.

PayPal is offering deals to credit card issuers in order to provide incentives for using their new in-store mobile payments, said CEO Daniel Schulman. The company’s head of global core payments, Jim Magats, said “We talked about giving customers flexibility to pay how they want, and now we are rolling out new experiences.”

Citigroup and Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) will begin allowing customers to lead their credit cards into PayPal accounts. This will make it possible for point-of-sale mobile swipe technology. As Citigroup currently boasts 143 million customer accounts, this presents a considerable opportunity.

The idea is to “enable banking in the palm of our customers’ hands,” said Ralph Andretta, Citigroup card exec.

PayPal is also working with two smaller banks as a part of this mobile payment partnership through FIS. They include Wintrust Financial Corp. and Avidia Bank. This agreement is only the latest in a growing race among banks and credit card issuers to take hold of the mobile wallet market that has yet to move into mainstream use in the United States. Other massive participants include J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. as well as tech giants such as Google, Samsung and Apple.