Tag: mobile payments platform

Mobile commerce convenience remains most attractive feature among consumers

Just two years ago, there had been a significant amount of hype surrounding Google’s efforts in the mobile commerce sector. The company had introduced its Wallet application, which aimed to make mobile payments somewhat common among consumers and the company had made several moves in its various business sectors to make itself more accommodating to mobile commerce. While some of these initiatives have been less successful than the company had anticipated, Google remains invested in the mobile commerce sector and continues to introduce new services therein.

Wallet receives some criticism for lack of convenience

Part of the allure of mobile commerce lies in the convenience it offers to people. Consumers have praised mobile commerce platforms for their ability to make shopping and paying for products very easy and straightforward. In the past, platforms that did not offer consumers an adequate level of convenience received harsh criticism and, in some cases, ended up failing in their given market. Google’s own mobile commerce platform has received such criticism, which has encouraged the company to take measures to make the Wallet more attractive to consumers.

New feature allows for quick mobile payments

Google has announced a new update for its Wallet platform that will allow users to purchase products and applications in as little as two clicks. This is accomplished through the new Instant Buy API that has been introduced to the Google Wallet. This API allows app developers and merchants to offer instant but services, essentially allowing consumers to conduct a mobile transaction in a very simple manner.

New feature may encourage consumers to use Wallet platform

Google believes that the new capabilities of the Wallet will help consumers become more comfortable with the concept of mobile commerce. Many consumers have criticized the Wallet platform in the past because it did not offer an enjoyable experience, a problem that Google expects will be put to rest with the application’s new checkout feature. So far, Rue La La and Expedia are among the companies testing out this new quick checkout feature.

The credit card giant has broadened its offerings in Europe with two new features.

Visa Europe has just announced that it is adding two new features to its mobile payments offerings, with the addition of Immediate Payments and Multi Currency.

These two new features are meant to make the service more convenient and appealing to users.

These services will make it possible for the mobile payments program from Visa to let users make transactions instantly from their smartphones to any other Visa cardholder on the European continent. That will provide a number of benefits, says Visa, to both the sender and the recipient of the funds.

Visa has stated that these two new mobile payments features will become available before the end of 2013.

The purpose of the Multi Currency mobile payments features, explained Visa, was to make it possible to simplify a process that they called expensive and complex, when it comes to being able to send and receive money over the borders of the various countries throughout Europe.

At the same time, the Immediate Payments feature has already become available within the United Kingdom. This mobile payments option will expand throughout other European markets as the year progresses. It is meant to give consumers the chance to be able to receive funds that are sent through Visa Personal Payments within a span of minutes, instead of having to wait for a much longer and drawn out transaction process.

To be able to take advantage of this mobile payments service, consumers will need register and will need to know both the mobile number and the Visa credit card number of the funds recipient.

According to Sandra Alzetta, the senior vice president of Visa Europe, when discussing the industry and these new additions, “Mobile payments have the potential to fundamentally change the way that people pay and are paid. The new Multi Currency and Immediate Payments features combine the convenience of mobile device use with the ability to send money to 460 million Visa cardholders across Europe, solving a problem that millions of consumers face every day – giving money to another individual easily and securely.”