Tag: smartphone payments

Mobile payments added to Opera smartphone browser

| February 4, 2013

Mobile Payments Opera and NeomobileThe software team based in Norway will be partnering with Neomobile out of Italy.

Opera Software has just announced that it will be working with Neomobile, a specialist in direct carrier billing, in order to provide the users of the Opera Mini browser to make one click mobile payments from their smartphones in order to make purchases of digital content.

The purchases can be made quickly and easily and the total amount is added to the user’s cell phone bill.

The company stated that there are over 208 million people who are already using the app in order to access the web. An additional 21 million are using Opera Mobile. The hope is that the new partnership will result in operator billing on the Opera Payment Exchange (OPX).

The OPX is a form of link among mobile payments billing systems and content publishers and providers.

According to Opera, it helps to make certain that mobile payments can be quickly and safely made in a simple and secure way over the Mini browser.

On the other hand, Neomobile is a company that offers mobile payments solutions, but it is also a worldwide mcommerce group. It provides the users of smartphones and tablets with content in a partnership between digital content services and producers, and carriers.

The new agreement between Opera and Neomobile was just announced, indicating the very first steps that the two companies would be taking together. At the moment, and for the first while, it will impact only the mcommerce group arm of the company. This means that the mobile payments can be used for purchasing music, games, video, and other types of digital content that can be downloaded or viewed from the device. It takes only one click for the direct carrier billing through the Mini browser, and it is available to consumers in eleven different countries.

For now, these mobile payments will not be available for actual physical goods that must be shipped to the consumer. It is applicable only to digital content that can be obtained right away through the use of the smartphone or tablet device.

Mobile commerce experts expect an increase of $14 billion this year

| January 25, 2013

Mobile Commerce Sephora

The example of Sephora has been used to support this claim about the channel.

Experts in mobile commerce and marketing have been looking at some of the larger players in the channel and have stated that they expect a positive future for shopping over smartphones.

Those in the industry are increasingly convinced that this environment has become vital to a company’s survival.

Johnna Marcus, an executive from Sephora, the beauty product retailer, explained that mobile commerce had been a highly positive experience for that company, and that it anticipates further gains in that sphere will present themselves in 2013. Based on last year’s numbers, that business is justified in feeling positive about the potential from smartphone shoppers.

When speaking at a conference, the executive revealed considerable mobile commerce growth data.

According to Marcus, Sephora saw an increase in orders over mobile commerce of 167 percent. Moreover, there was a spike of 75 percent in the traffic that the site saw from smartphones and tablets. Furthermore, over 50 percent of the emails that are sent by the company are opened using these devices, as opposed to laptops and desktop computers.

Sephora has developed a unique mobile commerce strategy which is attempting to make the smartphone or tablet into a type of digital personal shopper for consumers. The devices will allow them to keep track of the brands that they prefer, read reviews, and keep an eye on the very latest items.

The company has also placed a considerable amount of focus on the concept of a mobile wallet which will integrate with the gift cards that they sell. Beyond that, there is a handy feature in the company’s app, which allows consumers to scan the barcodes on the packages in-store, or on the items that have already been purchased. This provides immediate access to product information, reviews, and options for purchasing that item online.

Of course, this was only one example of mobile commerce successes over the last year. A recent eMarketer study has indicated that this year, consumers will be using their devices to purchase $37.44 billion worth of retail products. This is a massive increase over last year, when $23.72 billion was spent.