Tag: africa

ING shows support for Apple’s mobile payments service

| January 6, 2015

ING is preparing to embrace Apple Pay if it is launched in Europe in the near future

Dutch bank ING has begun showing support for Apple Pay. The new mobile payments platform from Apple has yet to launch beyond the United States, but ING is already showing support for payments made from Apple devices. Apple has seen significant promise in the mobile payments space and has responded to the increasing demand for payment services by offering its own. In the few months since Apple Pay’s release, it has become a prominent competitor in the new commerce space.

Apple Pay has yet to become a mainstream success among consumers in the US

Apple Pay launched with the support of thousands of retail organizations and the support of some of the largest financial institutions in the world. Despite this strong support, the platform has yet to become a mainstream success, but it one of the very few mobile payments services that is available for iOS devices. The success of Apple Pay has been growing slowly over the past few months, which may have slowed Apple’s plans to release the service in other countries.

Rumors suggest that Apple Pay may expand into Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa

ING - Mobile PaymentsThere are rumors that suggest that Apple is preparing to launch Apple Pay in the United Kingdom. Other speculation suggests that Apple is preparing to launch its payment service in the Middle East, India, and Africa as well. The company has not yet announced any definitive plans for doing so, but growing demand for mobile payment services could draw Apple to other countries. In preparation for this potential expansion, banks like ING are beginning to show support for the payment service.

Some banks express concerns about Apple Pay’s security

While many banks have begun to show interest in supporting Apple Pay, others in the United Kingdom have expressed concerns over the security of the platform. Mobile commerce has begun to attract the attention of malicious groups that seek to exploit consumer financial information, and relatively few platforms have the security measures in place to protect this information.

Standard Bank launches mobile payments app

| May 22, 2014

Banking organization releases new mobile commerce application

Standard Bank, a pan-African banking organization, has launched a new mobile payments application called SnapScan. Mobile commerce is becoming quite popular in Africa, especially as more people in various countries gain access to smartphones and tablets. The proliferation of mobile technology is having a major impact on commerce and the demand for mobile services is beginning to grow at a dramatic rate. In order to accommodate demand, organizations like Standard Bank have been releasing new services that are mobile-centric in nature.

SnapScan leverages QR codes to initiate mobile transactions

The new SnapScan service is meant to give consumers the ability to participate in mobile commerce through the use of QR codes. The application can scan these codes and initiative a mobile transaction. The codes can be associated with any sort of product or service and have become a very popular mobile commerce tool in recent years. These codes are quite easily produced and, in most cases, can be made for free, which is one of the reasons they are particularly popular among retailers and in the marketing field.

10,000 merchants in Africa accept payments from SnapScan app

Mobile Payments - Standard BankSome 10,000 merchants throughout Africa have partnered with Standard Bank in order to accept mobile payments coming from the SnapScan application. These merchants provide consumers with unique QR codes. Once the code is scanned and a payment has been issued, merchants receive an SMS message that verifies that the payment has been received successfully. SnapScan may become more popular in Africa as more consumers make use of the application and see its merits.

Security remains a major challenge for mobile commerce

Many people favor mobile commerce because of its convenience, but consumers are also wary of the mobile space because of the security threats that exist therein. Security has been a major problem for mobile commerce for some time, as it is a popular target for malicious groups that seek to exploit financial information. If organizations can find a way to boost the security of the services that they provide, they are likely to find success in the mobile space.