Credit Card Cos: Who’s Doing What in Mobile Payments?: Tech News and Analysis « Visa is making a strategic investment in mobile payment provider Square, providing the start-up with an undisclosed sum of money as well as a new advisory board member.
It’s a nice boost for Square, which is on a roll as it tries to ramp up payments via a smartphone. But it also highlights the growing role of credit card companies as they try to prepare for the growing mobile payments boom. As more and more transactions flow through a mobile phone, Visa, Mastercard and American Express have been making moves to position themselves in different ways to take advantage of this trend. It’s not just a passing interest for these companies. In many ways, they need to be actively involved in the rise of mobile payments, which can threaten to cut them and their cards out of the process. Mastercard — Mastercard has been an early believer in near field communication and has been working on contactless payments all the way back to 2002 with its PayPass system.
Five payment trends to watch in 2011. 2010 dramatically changed how we think about how people and businesses exchange money.
We saw ecommerce continue to grow and we saw emerging channels take flight with consumers and merchants of all sizes. As great as last year was for innovation in payments, we’re just getting warmed up. This year we should expect to see some incredible innovations that will change how we pay and get paid, and on a broader scale, change how we view physical currency (spoiler: This will be the beginning of the end for cash).
Below are some of my thoughts on how payments will evolve in the next year. I’d love to get your opinion in the comments section. Mobile, mobile, mobile Wallet in the cloud. At PayPal, we couldn’t agree more with this statement, and our numbers back it up. T-commerce From our point of view, part of that interactivity will be the ability to conduct a wide variety of transactions through a television. ‘Appification’ Social Shopping A Cashless Society [top image via Flickr/uhuru1701] Direct Donations Now Available via Peer-to-Peer Micropayment Service Flattr. The social micropayment startup Flattr has rolled out a change to its service today.
As we first reported last month, users of the site can now donate specific amounts of money to Flattr users. Flattr lets users "Like" websites and content, but that action is backed with real money. Before this new donation feature was added, the money in your Flattr account was split evenly each month among all the sites you've "flattred. " And while you can still use the service that way, you'll also be able to donate a specific amount - a minimum of 2, up to 50. "We think this will take the system to a whole other level beyond just tips," says Flattr's Eileen Burbidge. On every user-profile page, you will now find a "Donate" button. As we suggested last month, Flattr's new feature will likely benefit WikiLeaks, as Flattr remains one of the only ways to make a donation to the site now that PayPal, Visa and MasterCard have closed those paths to funding.
Is Flattr The New Facebook Like, But This Time With Money? Flattr is a new startup with an inovative business model, coming out of Sweden.
In fact it’s the brainchild of a group of people formerly associated with The [infamous] Pirate Bay, including Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi. It’s highly ironic that Flattr has sprung from a similar group that refused to pay for content, like movies. But Flattr just might work because there are already signs that the micropayments startup is getting grass-roots traction – and it’s still only in closed beta. Flattr is reminiscent of Digg or perhaps Facebook Like buttons – but this time with real money. That could make things very interesting. According to one blogger he has had €875.89 for the month of June from Flattr and the amount has increased steadily upwards. There are also lists appearing of people appearing who are starting to make actual money. So how does it work?
Gaming.