LoopPay has acquired funding from Visa for its ambitious and innovative technology
LoopPay, a mobile payments firm based in the U.S., has announced that it has won funding from Visa. The exact amount of funding that has been provided by Visa has not yet been revealed, but the funding is expected to be used to help LoopPay launch its new technology later this year. The firm’s Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology may add yet another layer of security to mobile commerce while further bolstering the mobile payment infrastructure.
LoopPay technology makes use of magnetic trips rather than NFC chips
The technology leverages the magnetic strips that can be found on payment cards in order to process mobile payments. LoopPay has opted not to make use of NFC technology, despite its popularity in the mobile commerce sector. The new technology means that existing point-of-sale systems can be made more mobile-friendly, as most are fashioned to make use of payment card information. Reducing the technological boundaries that separate mobile commerce and traditional commerce could help consumers become more active in the mobile shopping field.
Firm’s services can be used by iOS devices
LoopPay provides a mobile application and case for iOS devices. The case is able to store and reach financial information, allowing iOS users to participate in mobile commerce relatively easily. The MST technology from LoopPay encrypts the financial information being transmitted to a point-of-sale system and this information is only available for a short amount of time before it is no longer readable.
LoopPay may have found a way to get people involved in mobile commerce without forcing them to embrace new and unfamiliar technologies
Mobile commerce has become a competitive field in many parts of the world. In the U.S., many mobile payment firms are introducing services that make use of new technology that is designed to disrupt traditional commerce. This can be difficult for consumers to embrace, however, as they have been comfortable with traditional commerce for years. LoopPay may have found a way to encourage people to participate in mobile commerce without having to embrace new and unfamiliar technology.
The Seattle based coffee chain has been the prime example of how the transaction technology can be used.
According to a recent report that has been released by Starbucks, mobile payments made up a full 15 percent of the total revenue brought in by the café chain in the United States.
This was the statement that was made by the company with regards to its third quarter earnings.
The chief executive officer of the company, Howard Schultz, informed investors that the Starbucks mobile app currently boasts 12 million users in the United States and Canada. That represents an increase of about 2 million from what the figure had been within the second quarter earnings report. However, it was the increase in the number of mobile payments that still has everyone feeling quite impressed with the progress being made by the company.
Starbucks seems to have been able to overcome the mobile payments barriers that have halted the progress of others.
The third quarter report showed that there were six million mobile transactions processed every week in the United States. This was an increase of a full million over what the company was processing in its second quarter.
CEO Schultz also went on to point out that Starbucks intends to test a new feature that will become available in its mobile app during the fourth quarter, in which it will allow customers to order and pay for their purchases ahead of time, so that they can come in and pick them up. To start, this feature will be available only in a single major U.S. city, but if it proves successful, it will certainly expand from that point in the future.
There was not a great deal else revealed by Starbucks about previous comments that had been made with regards to white labeling its mobile application and loyalty program in order to allow them to be used by other retailers.
The company’s global chief strategy officer, Matt Ryan, explained that Starbucks is currently conducting a number of different active conversations with technology partners about the development of a program of that nature, but he did not expand on it with any further detail.
What is certain is that Starbucks can and is feeling strong about its mobile payments and commerce experiences, as Ryan stated that “We have absolute confidence in the nature of the opportunity.”
