Retailers will be able to accept these transactions through the new Buyit application.
Barclays’ has taken a new step forward to prove itself as a banking industry innovator by unveiling a new offering to customers in the United Kingdom that allow them to use mobile payments.
These transactions will be based on the use of QR codes printed on various forms of advertisements.
In order to use the mobile payments, the Buyit app is required. It allows customers to scan QR codes on ads in order to make purchases. It is drawn from the popularity of Barclay’s previously launched app Pingit. That app was released earlier this year. The new application, however, helps to extend smartphone transactions beyond the Pingit person to person support so that retailers can also take part.
Barclays’ has high hopes that this mobile payments offering will have a similar impact on its stocks to the last one.
According to one recent report, the company has been maintaining a price estimate of $22 for the stock, and that is currently riding around 20 percent above the market price where it currently stands. U.K. regulators have raised concerns about the banking industry’s capital shortfalls in light of the impact that the European region’s slowdown among banking institutions. That could help to explain the price difference that has been observed.
Barclays is hoping to keep itself at the head of the game by remaining a technology leader. Mobile payments offerings is a central part of that effort. It has previously achieved this type of solid success through the use of ATMs, which are now ubiquitous. The organization has also been leading the way in other contactless transaction solutions.
It was Barclays that launched the very first mobile payments solution in the country. The Pingit app allows customers to send money to one another using only the cell number of the recipient and without the need for the sender to know any of the recipient’s account details. The service is available for free for everyone in the United Kingdom, provided that they have a bank account and a smartphone with which to make the funds exchange.
Mobile payments may be revolutionized by ambitious developers
Mobile payments are becoming more popular and common in the U.S., but many still claim there are barriers between the mobile commerce world and consumers. Some mobile payments services are being criticized as not being convenient enough for some consumers while others are meeting consumer backlash over matters of security. Mobile developers have been working to find ways to make mobile payments more efficient in recent months in the hopes of making the entirety of the mobile commerce scene more accommodating and attractive to consumers.
Harper Reed announced plans for new mobile commerce application
Harper Reed, former chief technology officer for Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, has announced that he and a team of developers are working to develop a new mobile payments application. Reed suggests that this application will change the way people participate in mobile commerce and will act as a push-button solution to many of the problems that currently exist in the realm of mobile payments. Reed managed to garner acclaim for his work with mobile applications during the Obama campaign and his talent may be enough to bring about major changes in mobile payments.
Application aims to streamline mobile payments
The application is currently in very early stages of development and Reed and his team have yet to decide on the final features the application will offer. For now, only the application’s ultimate goal is set in stone. Reed envisions an application through which purchases can be made with a simple push of a button, or in this case a tap of the screen of a mobile device. The application would make use of financial information stored on a mobile device in order to make this possible and Reed believes that making mobile payments easier for consumers to manage will make the entire online retail scene more active.
Security remains top challenge in mobile commerce space
While Reed’s vision for the future of mobile payments is ambitious, there are still several challenges that exist in the mobile commerce space that have made consumers somewhat leery of paying for products with their smartphones and tablets. The most prominent of these challenges has to do with security. Mobile payments have long been plagued by security issues that have put the financial information of consumers in danger, thereby driving many people away from this field. In order for Reed and his team to find the success they seek in mobile payments, they will have to find a way to solve the security problem.
