Tag: mobile payments popularity

Mobile payments and data race may currently have PayPal in the lead

| May 1, 2013

PayPal mobile payments may be the leaderAt the moment, in terms of merchants and consumers, the company may be considered the leader.

PayPal, already a leader in the online transaction industry, is starting to be considered to be the frontrunner in mobile payments, as well, as it boasts the largest estimated number of merchants and consumers within a “digital wallet” sphere.

Furthermore, the company is aiming to expand this possible lead with the addition of new partnerships.

PayPal has just announced that it is partnering with Discover and NCR in order to further boost its mobile payments offerings. The eBay owned company has been a leader in online purchases for fifteen years, but were able to process more than $14 billion in transactions over tablets and smartphones last year.

The PayPal Here mobile payments service has allowed the company to define itself in this channel.

The success that PayPal has had over mobile payments has been considerable enough that they feel that they are starting to chip into the transaction processing sector, which has long been held by major credit card companies. This has also allowed consumers to start to be able to pay for their purchases in a seamless way, using their cards, but without having to actually carry the plastic.

The PayPal Here mobile payments card reader is also rapidly becoming popular among small businesses. This is because it allows those companies to use any smartphone or table to have a small card reader plugged into its audio jack without the need for large POS equipment or its associated rental or purchase fees.

Now that the Discover partnership has been added to PayPal’s growing set of deals, it will mean that the company will be expanding to 2 million more brand name locations by the end of this year.

That said, one of the mobile payments company’s primary goals is to eliminate the need for a card reader altogether so that the app can be used on consumer smartphones in order to replace the plastic cards. Though this service is available at a few thousand stores already, the extra two million will exponentially grow this opportunity.

Mobile payments worries are continuing to rise

| April 25, 2013

Mobile Payments SecurityAs the industry continues to grow and more people consider the use of the services, concerns increase.

Consumers and mobile payments service providers, alike, are expecting this technology to have a considerable impact on the way that business is conducted and products are purchased, but at the same time, there remain a number of concerns that are keeping people from actually using it, quite yet.

There is still growth in in-store purchase, paid bills, and money transfers through smartphone transactions.

At the same time, many experts who are examining this new technology and what mobile payments are doing in the industry say that there are many questions that remain about its privacy and security. This is holding back its progress to a considerable degree as consumers simply don’t trust it enough to feel safe and confident in its use, so far.

At the same time, mobile payments industry execs are saying that the technology is already good and is improving.

Though consumers are hearing that message, they seem to be willing to wait for those improvements to be implemented before they actually put it into use. At the same time, experts in security are also pointing out that the rapid growth of the use of smartphones for mobile payments is also attracting the attention of those who would use it for fraud.

It is precisely this worry that has consumers stepping back and either using the device less than they otherwise would for mobile payments, or simply choosing not to use it at all until they feel that the risks have dropped.

According to a Dallas based organization called NQ Mobile, a company that offers smartphone security software, it witnessed a growth of over 65,000 new malware threats released around the world, last year. This was a massive increase over the 24,000 new threats that were introduced in 2011. This type of issue can cause unsuspecting device users to head to sites where they reveal their financial data so that it can be stolen and used by unethical third parties.

According to Gavin Kim, the company’s chief commercial officer, “It’s a real problem, and it is growing.” Security will clearly be a key issue to overcome before mobile payments can truly take off.