The service is expected to launch near the beginning of 2014 through eight participating financial institutions.
The Payments Council has just released their latest news for smartphone users in the United Kingdom, which revealed that in the early part of 2014, they will have mobile payments services available that will allow them to send money or complete transactions via text message.
It is hoped that this will be able to rev up the smartphone transaction sector within that country.
According to the BBC, the entire process will begin as the eight banks that are involved in this mobile payments venture ask their clients whether or not they would be willing to opt into the program in 2014.
The goal is to use text messaging to make mobile payments more accessible and convenient to users.
The participating banks feel that using text message mobile payments will provide a simpler process than having to transfer money in the traditional way, as an account number will not need to be provided. Instead, a phone number will be used, which is much easier for the user to remember and is considered to be more manageable.
Though this is will be the first time that a service of this nature is launched in the United Kingdom, the technology is not brand new. M-Pesa is already offering text based mobile payments in a number of different African countries. This is because it is available in the majority of cell phone devices and it allows funds to be transferred quite quickly.
The Faster Payments service will be managing the mobile payments of this nature in the U.K. In 2012, that company processed 800 million banking transactions, which suggests that they will be capable of handling the necessary volume.
It is expected that the users who will find the text mobile payments to be the most appealing will be those who have feature phones as opposed to smartphones, and who are therefore not able to load wallet and mcommerce apps. Also predicted to enjoy this technology will be individuals who want to use their devices but without having to manage their account numbers in order to do so.
The new service that could result may give a considerable advantage over competition like Square.
Two of the largest players in mobile payments – PayPal and NCR – have just announced that they will be working together in a major new deal that may help to create a significant advantage for themselves within this marketplace.
This should help PayPal to gain a notable edge when compared to its competition.
This could be unwelcome news for Square, which is the primary competition within that sector. The assistance of the point of sale company, NCR, could give PayPal a great deal of additional weight. The agreement will bring mobile payments from PayPal into the apps and services from NCR that are commonly used by retailers and restaurants.
It will begin by simply adding a PayPal mobile payments checkout option within NCR’s Pay application.
This will provide restaurant patrons with the opportunity to use their smartphones to use PayPal to pay for their meals. However, the services will expand from there over time. Soon, there will be a PayPal dining experience in which it will be able to use its own mobile payments apps whenever a customer checks in at a participating NCR location.
Though this may sound like a light deal at first – particularly as PayPal has already recently announced that there are 23 retailers currently using its own point of sale solutions – this could end up being one of the mobile payments company’s most important developments as it seeks to lead its industry. NCR is not in any way new, having been established 128 years ago. It currently powers the POS for half of all of the major retail chains, as well as 38 percent of the leading 100 American restaurants. This will provide PayPal with a tremendous amount of reach as they gain access to millions of customers through NCR.
That said, NCR isn’t working exclusively with PayPal for mobile payments. It has also created a deal with Google Wallet and has indicated that it is available for agreements with other providers, as well.
Beyond mobile payments, the PayPal and NCR deal will also give consumers access to special offers, coupons, and other types of discount deals, starting in gas stations, restaurants, and small convenience stores, and broadening from there.
