Tag: smartphone payments

Mobile wallet approaching readiness in India

| December 31, 2015

Micromax smartphone manufacturer subsidiary, Yu Televentures, has announced its intentions.

Yu Televentures recently announced that it is coming close to reaching an agreement with TranServ, which will make it possible for the companies to jointly produce a mobile wallet that will be available on the latest Micromax smartphone, which will be called the Yutopia.

This agreement will be the first of its kind for the subsidiary of the India based smartphone manufacturer’s subsidiary.

A recent press release from Yu Televentures explained that it will be releasing its mobile wallet as a component of its Around Yu suite. Around You is a software suite that comes as a part of the original bundle that is already installed into the Yutopia smartphone. This ensures that the mobile payments app will be available to users who purchase the smartphone without requiring them to have to download it.

This could help to boost the use of the mobile wallet among the users of that model of the device.

Mobile Wallet Joint ProjectAccording to Micromax co-founder, Rahul Sharma, “All these services will be deeply integrated and stitched with one payments system.” The goal is to make it as convenient, seamless and simple for device owners to use as possible. This will allow them to use it as a natural part of their device use, instead of being an awkward or clunky add-on that requires them to take too much action in order to take advantage of what it has to offer.

A statement from Yu Televentures pointed out that both the mobile wallet app that is being developed, and the mobile payments system upon which it will stand will assist in driving other apps within the Around Yu suite. There are several within the suite that have the potential to work quite smoothly with the digital transactions, such as a food ordering application, a mobile travel app that provides price comparisons, as well as a price comparison retail app that allows users to find the best price for the products and services they’re seeking. By incorporating the wallet app, when the user finds what he or she wants, it will be easier to simply purchase it digitally.

Will 2016 be the year mobile payments finally take hold?

| December 30, 2015

Industry experts in the retail sphere are predicting that the technology will start heating up next year.

With the close of 2015, there have been a number of predictions as to what will be taking off in 2016 and which trends will continue on their way, and many experts have been saying that they see mobile payments as something that will make an important splash before another year comes to a close.

The prediction is that mobile wallets will take off not only in retail stores but also other locations like restaurants.

Although there have been experts who have been predicting that mobile payments would be taking off for several years, the forecasts for 2016 are larger than ever before. With the introduction of chip credit cards, many people are saying that Samsung Pay, Android Pay and Apple Pay are going to be seen as more convenient and will start to become a normal form of transaction at retail counters and in restaurants. This will be an important shift as consumers have been quite resistant to stepping away from their plastic cards. According to CEB analyst, Andy Schmidt, 2016 could be the year in which that begins to change in a meaningful way.

The migration to chip cards could be just the opportunity that mobile payments need to make themselves known.

Mobile Payments - Will 2016 b the YearBanks, credit card issuers and retailers have all been changing their plastic card technology to include chips and many technology experts believe this slowdown at the checkout counter will have consumers looking to other types of transaction to speed up the process. While chip cards are considered to be safer than the magnetic stripes, it takes several seconds longer for each transaction to be completed. With the combination of the change in habits and the slower process, it could be what consumers need to look to the various smartphone-based options to speed things up again.

For this reason, it is expected that many companies are all going to do their part to stand out in the mobile wallet marketplace. There are already a large number of options, including major players such as Samsung, Apple, Google and even a recent entry by Walmart. Target has also announced that it’s working on its own option, while keeping its position as an important member of the anticipated MCX mobile payments app, as well. The belief seems to be that retailers – individually and as parts of consortiums – will be offering and receiving smartphone based transactions in the largest numbers yet throughout 2016.