Tag: smartphone payments

The U.K. mobile payments has Barclays leading Google

| January 21, 2016

The financial institution has recently released an update for its Android application which supports NFC technology.

Barclays recently updated its Android mobile payments app in order to allow it to be able to complete contactless transactions through the use of NFC technology, for those whose devices support that tech.

This service will be available to customers with both the Barclaycard credit card and its mobile app.

This same mobile payments service update will not apply to the Barclays Mobile Banking app. The new service supporting near field communication (NFC technology) will make it possible for consumers to make purchases of up to £30 at participating locations. These contactless transactions are made without needing to enter a PIN or even having to open the mobile app. When Apple Pay launched in the United Kingdom, Barclays did not support the service and became the target of considerable criticism.

This launch of its own NFC based mobile payments service helps to explain the move from Barclays.

UK Mobile Payments - Barclays Leads GoogleIt appears as though the financial institution is working on taking its own solid stance when it comes to supporting smartphone based transactions. It will be interesting to see how things play out when Google brings Android Pay to the United Kingdom, as that service – which also uses NFC technology – has not yet been rolled out in the country. So far, many in the industry believe it will take Google more time before it will be ready for that launch.

Through the use of the updated Barclaycard mobile app, all users need to do to take advantage of the service is to enable the NFC technology on their smartphones. When it comes time to pay for a purchase at a point of sale counter with a contactless reader, users need only tap their devices against the reader to complete the transaction.

The mobile payments app operates in the background. This is meant to make the process much simpler for consumers because they will neither need to launch the app nor enter a PIN in order to make a small purchase. Certain retailers will allow larger purchases, as high as £100, to be completed without the use of a PIN.

Mobile payments have moved into India with leaps and bounds

| January 18, 2016

The massively populated country has proven to be a very promising marketplace for smartphone wallets.

A new forecast has been issued with regards to the use of mobile payments in India and in which it has now been estimated that the considerable growth rate of the use of these transactions in the country may translate to $183 million by 2019.

In only three years, the market will be set to undergo a massive transformation that will lead to significant growth.

The smartphone ecosystem in India has been producing some very exciting movements as these devices catch on and start to cut into the feature phone share in a population that is more than one billion large. As this technology takes off, the online and mobile payments space has also been benefiting with wallet apps being downloaded at a staggering rate. Tech companies have been placing their focus on major economies around the world with release such as Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay and Alipay, but India’s offerings have been somewhat limited, so far.

There are about 12 major mobile payments players offering wallet apps within the country.

Mobile Payments Report - IndiaAmong the most popular mobile wallets currently available to smartphone users in India are M-Pesa, Paytm, Oxigen, MobiKwik, Freecharge, Citrus Pay, Airtel Money, mRupee, ItzCash and Zaakpay. Currently, the combined total of their active customer base is estimated to be around just over 125 million people. Paytm currently claims a massive 50 million of that total.

The results of a recent study conducted by RNCOS, a consultancy and research firm, showed that the current mobile wallet marketplace size in India is worth an estimated $53 million. That said, it has also predicted that within the next three years, that figure will skyrocket to $183 million, before the close of 2019.

That represents tremendous growth for mobile payments use, particularly when taking into consideration the fact that 38 percent of transactions in India are still completed with cash. Another 30 percent of the total market is taken up by bill payments and recharge accounts. At the moment, the primary obstacle faced within that marketplace has to do with the stability of the wireless data infrastructure, having their connection drop mid-transaction, while also worrying whether or not this technology is keeping their financial and other sensitive data secure.