Tag: mobile technology

Tablets prove popular mobile payments platforms for travelers

Study shows tablets are favored for mobile payments

JiWire, a leading location-based mobile marketing firm, has released a new study concerning how consumers use their mobile devices to participate in mobile payments. The study, titled “Q1 2013 Mobile Audience Insights Report,” highlights the fact that consumers are becoming increasingly mobile; not in the sense that they are using mobile devices but that they are on the move more often than they have been in the past. Thanks to mobile technology, these consumers have the ability to stay connected to the Internet, allowing them to shop online no matter where they are in the world. For this reason, mobile payments have become especially popular among frequent travelers.

Travelers favor convenience over tradition

For travelers, convenience is often a top priority issue. Traveling itself is sometimes a chaotic and stressful endeavor, which can be exacerbated by having to deal with traditional forms of commerce. Mobile payments represent an easier way to pay for products and services given that these payments are entirely digital and do not deal with physical forms of currency. This has made mobile commerce popular with travelers that favor convenience and simplicity over traditional forms of commerce.

Tablet mobile payments popular among travelersStudy shows that tablets lead smartphones and laptops

According to the study, some 52% of travel booked in the first quarter of this year was made using a tablet device. The study suggests that consumers favor their tablet devices when it comes to mobile payments and travel. Smartphones and laptops were also used for travel booking, but tablets were praised for providing a more enjoyable and convenient experience over other platforms. This is similar to a trend that exists in the retail industry, where tablet consumers have been showing more interest in mobile payments than those using smartphones.

Mobile commerce impacting consumer behavior

JiWire notes that mobile commerce is beginning to impact consumer behavior across several sectors. Consumers are showing that they are more interested in mobile payments than traditional forms of commerce. Whether or not this trend will continue to gain momentum into the future is not certain, but consumers are currently eager to become more involved in the realm of mobile payments.

Google continues to reform its mobile commerce approach

Google pushing forward with interests in mobile commerce

Google muscled its way into mobile commerce only a short while ago, but the company is already working to reform its position in this competitive sector. In 2011, Google launched its Wallet platform, which allows users to make mobile payments. The Wallet was meant to be the company’s flagship in the field of mobile commerce, but received scathing reviews and suffered from technological problems. Google has been working to improve the platform ever since and believes that the Wallet is not capable of offering high quality mobile commerce services.

Checkout service to be shut down in six months

Google is so certain that the Wallet platform is ready for the limelight that the company has announced the closure of its Checkout service. Google Checkout had been used in the past to help facilitate digital payments for online merchants. The service was moderately popular, but was unable to attract the same kind of support that PayPal’s own services had attracted over the years. In six months, Google’s Checkout service will be shut down, replaced entirely by the Wallet.

Play developers to transition to Wallet Merchant CenterGoogle Mobile Commerce

The transition will not only affect online merchants as many game developers also rely on the current Checkout system. Over the coming weeks, Google will be transitioning its Play developers to the Wallet Merchant Center, which will allow them to collect payments from consumers. Google believes that this will be a more intuitive system for the mobile games sector as the system itself is designed with mobile technology in mind.

Google Wallet continues to attract attention

Google aims to create a unified approach to the mobile commerce sector. While the Wallet platform received harsh criticism when it was initially launched, it has managed to attract a rather strong following. Consumers have praised the platform for the convenience it brings to the shopping experience.