Tag: mobile payments

Mobile commerce companies will have an opportunity to prove themselves this year

This year is expected to determine whether mobile payments will become a widely accepted phenomenon or little more than a passing fancy. In 2013, several of the brands investing in mobile commerce solutions will have their platforms exit the testing phase, becoming widely available to consumers around the world. Those that can entice the interests of consumers are expected to thrive, whereas those that are not well received are likely to fail.

Consumers are becoming more mobile

Part of what makes this year so important for the mobile payments sector is the fact that smartphone and tablet saturation is reaching an all time high. More consumers have access to smartphones and tablets now than they ever have in the past. This makes them more susceptible to the allure of mobile commerce. Moreover, media consumption is beginning to favor the mobile space, meaning that more consumers are relying on their mobile devices for their daily content rather than other platforms. For mobile commerce companies, these trends are of vital importance.

Comprehensive mobile commerce services likely to find success

As more consumers begin to embrace the mobile world, large brands are beginning to invest more heavily into mobile commerce. Mobile startups are beginning to be put to the test and those that offer comprehensive and easy to use mobile payments services are expected to beat out their competitors. There is no shortage of competition, of course, as there are literally thousands of mobile applications that offer some form of mobile commerce service to consumers. The trick, however, is finding a business model that is able to capture the support of consumers.

Freemium model shows most promise

So far, the freemium model is among the most successful in the mobile commerce realm. Freemium refers to the practice of offering a free service with the absolute lowest level of features being offered to consumers. Consumers have the option to pay a fee to unlock new features or sign up for a subscription to access all the features that the platform has to offer.

The latest update of the wallet app is designed to make it easier for givers and receivers.

Square Wallet has just announced that its mobile payments app has a new update that will make it simpler for its users to be able to purchase and to exchange gift cards for participating retailers.

This latest update is available for the application designed for both Android and iOS devices.

The announcement stated that Square gift cards can be sent directly from the purchaser’s smartphone or tablet, directly to the recipient. It is reported to function immediately through the electronic receipt that is sent to the purchaser (the giver) from merchants who accept mobile payments through the Square Wallet program.

This is an important step for Square in its gift card mobile payments offerings as it could expand its own use.

The mobile payments app first started its compatibility with gift cards in December of last year, just in time for the heart of the last minute holiday shopping rush. This provided merchants with the ability to offer electronic gift cards to consumers, who could then redeem them using their smartphone and tablet devices.

Participating retailers enjoyed this capability as it gave them the opportunity to offer these gift cards without having to rely on a third party provider for the plastic cards and redemption systems.

This latest update to the mobile payments app allows consumers to both buy the gift cards and send them directly to the recipients through the receipt that they receive electronically from the merchant. The Wallet company feels that this is an important step for providing convenience to the users of the service.

However, there is also a great deal of benefit to be had for Square, itself, if the program should take off. To the company, the true benefit isn’t necessarily convenience as much as the fact that if a recipient would like to be able to receive the gift card, then he or she will be required to download the mobile payments app and then use it when making a purchase. Potentially, this could expand the downloading and the use of the smartphone wallet service as consumers purchase and send gift cards to one another.