choice cuts

Choice Cut... Phone payments

By Garth - on Fri Jun 17 2011 - 1 comment - share this article facebook twitter email +1

As a result of their increasingly powerful functionality and capabilities mobile phones are increasingly being used for financial purposes and two examples of this that I find particularly interesting are Google Wallet and Square.

Google Wallet essentially wants to turn your phone into your wallet. How handy would it be to only have to carry your phone around! It's an android app that basically stores your plastic cards virtually on your phone. One caveat is that you need a Near Field Communication (NFC) ready phone to use it but this is becoming a standard feature now and the cost is coming down rapidly. The system is still quite embryonic and only available with a few carriers in the United States but it's still very interesting and could herald a revolution in the way we pay for things.

Square is an initiative from one of the co-founders of Twitter that allows merchants to take credit card payments directly on their phone, by either swiping the card through the device or punching the numbers in manually. Their website is beautifully designed and I think they're onto a pretty smart business model (2.75% commission on transactions, no contracts or signup fee). Again this is only available in the States at the moment but hopefully they extend it globally as I think it has wide appeal and it could really take off.

forwardthis article with a friend share tweet email google +1

choice cut mobile

Follow bka blog updates on Twitter or subsribe to our rss feed

Academic Search, ACM Ahlers Insurance, ADLS, Allendale Electrical, Aotearoa Credit Union, Art Associates, Auckland Arts Festival, Auckland Festival, Auckland Radiation, Auckland Theatre Company, Auckland YWCA, Barfoot Thompson , Bayview Travel, Better by Design, Biostart, BNZ, Bobux, BRAVEDay Insurance Brokers, Breastmates, Broadlands Finance, Catlor Display & Party Supplies, City Boxing, Comedy Festival, Contacts NZ, Cornwall Cricket, Crockers, Curious, Demon Energy, Diocesan School, Documentary Channel, Everybody, Fairfax, Fair Trade, Fastmount, Film NZ, First Foundation, French Country, Giltrap Group, Green Gopher, HallensteinGlasson, Hayes Knight, Health and Disability Commission, Healthvision, Interior Awards, Ipol, James & Wells, Kwanto, Lion Nathan, Liveto100, Mainstream, Martelli McKegg, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Mercy Ascot, MIMS online, Monitor, Network Visuals, Nuture, NZ Beef and Lamb, NZ Comedy Fest, NZ Doctor, New Zealand Institute of Architects, Optik, Party Mad, ProPharma, Rush Shop, Samex, Six60, Sound Travels, Southern Cross, Supporter Fundraising, The Breast Centre, The Business Advisory Group, ThePond, Total Experience, Touch of Spice, TR Group, Vendetta Films, Video-Ezy, Visique, VNC, Waitaki Braids, Well Park College, WHK, Workbase, Xsite Architecture, x-marketing, and LOTS MORE.