Tag: mobile payments

Mass transit users in Romania will be able to use their smartphones to pay for their passage.

The Bucharest mass transit system in Romania has just announced that, starting this month, it will make it possible for NFC technology enabled smartphones to be used in order to use mobile payments for purchasing travel fare.

This is meant to appeal to the rapidly growing number of smartphone using commuters in the city.

The Bucharest mobile payments announcement came from the system’s operator, Metrorex. The reason that NFC technology enabled smartphone systems will be implemented throughout the service following a successful trial period at seven different stations in the city. The company determined that the popularity of the transactions merited an expansion of the program throughout every station in the city.

Certain wireless service subscribers will have access to the NFC technology and text mobile payments for fares.

Though this may expand in the future, at the moment, Orange and Vodafone wireless carrier subscribers will be able to text a message to a special number that places the fare charge on the smartphone user’s account. That customer is then texted a message as confirmation.

This comes at a time that a service in India’s city of Chennai has also announced that it will be using NFC technology when it opens its rail system in 2015. That system will not be using the text method like the one in Bucharest.

By using the text based mobile payments services, it means that the transactions won’t be available only to individuals who have NFC technology embedded in their devices. This is important as the tech is only currently available in a small percentage of devices. Text opens up the opportunity to the majority of device carriers. This metro service currently has a network of 51 different stations throughout Bucharest.

Every year, the system transports over 170 million passengers, according to the statistics provided by Metrorex. During the pilot for this fare transaction program, there were over 10,000 validations that were reliably and successfully processed. The data regarding the number of expected users for this year or regarding NFC technology transactions has not yet been released.

M&S launched pilot project focused on mobile commerce

British retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has taken interest in the concept of mobile payments. The retailer is gearing to launch a new pilot program in order to make mobile payments possible among its consumer base. The program is centered around a mobile application that will facilitate transactions made from a consumer’s smartphone. This program is primarily focused on the retailer’s line of coffee shops and will enable customers to take advantage of a new form of commerce that they too have been growing increasingly interested in.

Retailers begin responding to demands from consumers

Mobile commerce is becoming more common throughout the United Kingdom’s retail sector. Retailers throughout the country are beginning to see mobile commerce as a very lucrative and favorable venture, especially as more consumers rely more heavily on their mobile devices. Many of these consumers have begun to show strong favor for mobile commerce because of the convenience it represents, while others are attracted to it because of its novelty. Many retailers expect that mobile commerce will eventually become the most prolific form of commerce in the world.

M&S Digital Lab and Paddle develop new mobile commerce application

M&S has set its sights on mobile commerce in order to address customer experience. In February, the retailer launched its Digital Lab division, which is focused on using and developing technology to make the shopping experience more enjoyable for customers. The M&S Digital Lab had help building its mobile commerce application from Paddle, a technology start-up based in London.

Retail industry looking to establish a future in mobile payments

Mobile commerce was once rare in the retail industry, with many retailers showing concern for the security of mobile payments. As consumers became more comfortable with shopping for and purchasing products on their mobile devices, retailers began to grow more accepting of the concept. Now mobile commerce is on the verge of sparking a revolution in the way people pay for what they are interested in, and the retail industry is keen to not be left out of this growing trend.