Cell Phone Payment System Coming to the United States
After years of success in Europe and Asia, the use of cell phones for everyday purchases seems to be close to a reality in the United States.
Verizon Wireless will be the first to offer mobile payments in the US via cell phone, using Obopay technology to make it all come to life.
The Obopay phone application will allow consumers to purchase items from their phone, or use a physical MasterCard credit card to spend or withdraw the money from their accounts.
The Obopay service allows users to send and receive money instantly via their mobile phones and will be accepted at a variety of locations including retail shops, movie theatres, restaurants, and more.
Mobile phones users can essentially send and receive money on the fly. Obopay cited a few examples on their website such as the tricky encounter people experience when splitting a restaurant bill.
Of course no one has cash on hand, so instead of owing money or splitting the bill amongst several credit cards, Obopay users can send their friends the difference instantly.
It also works for mobile businesses. Say a delivery man shows up and the buyer doesn’t have cash and the merchant doesn’t have a merchant system in place. The buyer can simply phone in the funds and the deal is done.
Users will also be able to their mobile money using an Obopay prepaid MasterCard®, which can be used at any ATM or retail outlet that accepts credit cards as a backup.
Obopay will run on Verizon Wireless mobile phones as a BREW® application which can be downloaded from the Verizon Wireless online store.
The question now is how many merchants will be able to accept the payment via phone, without the use of the prepaid MasterCard?
But it’s definitely a step in the right direction as the US has trailed the likes of Europe and Asia in the merchant market for some time now.
And this move should spur further development in an area that is long overdue here in the states.
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Posted Under: Credit Help and Tips