Tag: mobile technology

Lullapalooza to support mobile payments

| July 25, 2014

Major event will utilize wearable technology to allow people to pay for goods

Lullapalooza 2014 will be supporting mobile payments through the use of wearable technologies. The event’s organizer has announced that those attending the festival in August will be able to use high-tech wristbands to make transactions. This represents one of the largest events in which mobile payments and wearable technology are combined. While wristbands with imbedded RFID chips are not something new to mainstream events like Lullapalooza, they are most typically used to grant people access to particular areas and not for mobile payments.

RFID-equipped wristbands will make mobile purchases possible

Plastic wristbands equipped with RFID chips are to be used to the festival. Once a visitor enters the festival grounds, they will be able to use these wristbands as a way to pay for goods at the various stalls at the event. These wristbands can also be used at the events bars and payments are made through the use of mobile terminals that are capable of reading the wristband’s RFID chip.

Festival goers need to upload their financial details to the Lullapalooza website before they can use their wristbands

Mobile Payments - ConcertBefore the wristbands can be used, festival goers will have to upload their financial information into the Lullapalooza website. Once this has been accomplished, the wristbands will be sent out before the beginning of the festival. The wristbands will not only accommodate mobile payments, of course, and will function as a way to monitor festival entry as well. This is one of the more common uses for such wristbands and RFID chips are typically used to admittance more so than for mobile transactions.

Wristbands could make paying for goods at the festival safer and easier

Mobile payments have become quite popular in a variety of sectors, but they are new to prominent events like Lullapalooza. Making transactions easier for festival goers is one of the reasons the event has opted to use its new wristbands. The wristbands also remove the need for people to carry around physical currency, which could cut down on the instances of theft that occur at the festival.

Snapchat may be looking to break into mobile payments

| July 23, 2014

Popular app files two trademarks that could dictate its future

Massively popular mobile photo-sharing application Snapchat may be looking to solidify its future as a relevant application by embracing mobile payments. The app has become widely popular among a large demographic, but its uses are somewhat limited. It exists as a photo and video-sharing platform, through which users can share snippets of their lives with those on their contact lists. Typically, the pictures and videos shared through the app have a very short lifespan, with some lasting only seconds before being lost forever.

Trademarks highlight mobile commerce services

Snapchat has filed two trademarks that highlight its interest in the field of mobile commerce. The trademarks suggest that the company is interested in accepting, processing, and transferring payments among its users. One of the trademarks refers to computer application software that is responsible for handling electronic payments. The trademark suggests that this software can be downloaded from a global network, allowing it to be accessed by potentially millions of users. The second trademark filed by Snapchat involves the electronic transfer of money to others. This would involve the transfer of funds from various sources, including mobile devices.

Snapchat may be able to find enduring success by engaging in mobile commerce

Mobile payments Snapchat has not yet revealed how it intends to implement these new trademarks, but a focus on mobile commerce could help the company establish lasting relevance among its users. Snapchat is not the first photo-sharing application and it will not be the last. Many of its predecessors have faded into obscurity because they had little in the way of versatility. Apps that offer more than just a single, relatively simple feature have the potential to remain relevant among consumers that are generally quite fickle about the apps that they use.

Snapchat has limited experience in mobile payments

The demand for mobile commerce is on the rise. Consumers want to make use of new services that allow them to manage, transfer, and use their funds at their discretion. Snapchat may not have extensive experience with mobile commerce, but it does have access to a massive consumer base that may respond well to whatever efforts it ends up making in the mobile payments field.