Zong And Boku Launch Carrier Billing with BilltoMobile on Verizon Wireless Network

Zong and Boku, providers of online payments, now are working with Verizon Wireless, using a relationship with BilltoMobile. The move might help both firms leverage BilltoMobile's cost advantages with Verizon.

Historically, wireless carriers have charged roughly 30 percent to 40 percent to process transactions made on the carrier billing systems.

That obviously limits the range of goods, and types of goods, that sellers might be willing to transact using a carrier billing method. Perhaps the biggest potential change is that both firms could move beyond digital goods, at some point, though clearly the immediate incentive is to support mobile digital goods sales.

Mobile Payments Startups Zong And Boku Launch Billing Partnerships With Verizon

Mobile Payment Service Jumio Gearing Up

Jumio, a new online and mobile payment solution, is headed by Jajah founder Daniel Mattes.

Internet pioneers Zain Khan (former Google executive), Mark Britto (former Amazon executive) and Maarten Linthorst (former NASA partner) have jointed the Jumio advisory board.

Internet Pioneers Join Forces to Launch Online and Mobile Payment Service Jumio

Everything Everywhere To Launch Mobile Payments

Everything Everywhere, the marketing venture between U.K. mobile operators Orange and T-Mobile, has unveiled plans to roll out a mobile payments service by the second quarter of 2011, and is powered by Barclaycard.

The new service will allow consumers to use their mobiles to make purchases at over 40,000 stores.

The platform uses SIM cards and bill build on Everything Everywhere and Barclaycard’s ongoing partnership, which has already produced a co-branded contactless credit card and the forthcoming Orange Cash pre-paid contactless card.

Users will initially be able to purchase items up to the value of £15 by simply swiping their mobile phones across an electronic reader.

The phone uses “Near-Field Communication” technology in addition to the SIM modules.

http://everythingeverywhere.com/2011/01/27/the-uk%E2%80%99s-first-commercial-launch-of-contactless-mobile-payments-by-everything-everywhere-and-barclaycard-set-to-revolutionise-buying-on-the-high-street/

Everything Everywhere To Launch Mobile Payments

Starbucks Mobile Payment System is Really About Loyalty

About 20 percent of Starbucks transactions are made using a Starbucks Card, which provides users with a rewards program. Mobile payment "will extend the way our customers experience and use their Starbucks Card," says Brady Brewer, Starbucks Card and Brand Loyalty VP.

Starbucks said customers loaded $1.5 billion onto Starbucks Cards in 2010, a 21 percent jump over 2009.

In a real sense, the Starbucks mobile payment system is more about loyalty than "payments."

Starbucks Unveils Mobile Payment System for BlackBerry, iOS | News & Opinion | PCMag.com:

Charge Anywhere Updates Android POS System

CHARGE Anywhere has updated its mobile payment application for Android. The main new thing included in this release is support for non-credit card transactions like cash, check and ACH payments.

CHARGE Anywhere‘s mobile payment software and payment gateway solutions are supported by all major card processors in the US and Canada.

CHARGE Anywhere updates its mobile POS payment app for Android

Starbucks Rolls Out Mobile Payments at 7500 Locations

Starbucks is launching its mobile payment system nationwide, to 6,800 of owned stores, plus more than 1,000 outlets inside Target stores. The Starbucks mobile payment system will work initially on iPhones, BlackBerries and iPod "Touch" devices, with an Android version in the works.

To use the system, Starbucks cardholders load an application onto their iPhone or BlackBerry smartphones. The application displays a barcode that's scanned at the register to pay for drinks. Users can also manage Starbucks accounts and find nearby stores with the application.

One in five Starbucks transactions is now made with the store cards, and mobile payments "will extend the way our customers experience and use their Starbucks Card," says Brady Brewer, vice president of card and brand loyalty. 

Customers apparently like using Starbucks Cards. They loaded more than $1.5 billion onto the cards last year, up 21 percent over 2009.

Starbucks said more than a third of its U.S. customers use the devices, and nearly three fourths of the smartphone-toting Starbucks customers have either an iPhone or a BlackBerry.

http://www.starbucks.com/coffeehouse/mobile-apps/starbucks-card-mobile

Intuit Makes Big Mobile Payments Play

Smartphone as Credit Card Terminal

This is an example of how a smartphone can be used as a credit card terminal. If you think about event sites and even lots of farmers market or other small retail types of venues, this could be useful.

Intuit Mobile "Go Payment" Push: No Charge and a Free Card Reader

Intuit will offer its "GoPayment" mobile payment service with a free credit card reader and no monthly service fees to business owners who sign up by mid-February. “By offering a free card reader and no monthly service fees, we want to give more small businesses a head start in the New Year by enabling them to take mobile payments without any upfront investment,” says Chris Hylen, general manager of Intuit’s Payment Solutions division.

GoPayment is compatible with more than 40 popular mobile handsets and a range of credit card readers, Intuit says. This includes a free credit card reader from ROAM Data, which works on a variety of iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices, to make it easier for the cost-conscious new business owner to start taking mobile payments.

“We expect the point-of-sale mobile payments market in the U.S. to grow to $55 billion by 2015, up from an estimated $1 billion in 2010,” says Gwenn Bézard of Aite Group.

read more here

Google to Enter Mobile Payments Business?

Google is considering building a payment and advertising service that would let users buy goods at retail locations by tapping or waving their mobile phones against a register at checkout, BusinessWeek reports. The noteworthy angle is the linkage between the payment function and the advertising function; payments and location; payments and local advertising and promotion.

Many observers think the ultimate value of near field communications mobile payments or mobile wallet services will lie in a range of value the systems provide, beyond the actual retail payments feature.

Google to Enter Mobile Payments Business? | Mobile Marketing and Technology

Zong for Content Purchases

Zong, a provider of content purchases, might ultimately have a wider role in the transaction space.

Visa Talks About Mobile Payments

PayPal To Launch Payment Service Using iPhone