Payments

The ability to turn a smartphone into a portable credit card swiper makes sense for small business owners on the go, as well as anyone who happens to be out of cash. Like Square, the new ROAMpay device plugs in to the audio jack of your smartphone. Using the company's app, you get the same functions as using a traditional credit terminal and it's available on iPhone and Android. Read More

If you have a PayPal account and an iPhone, chances are you’ll never again be caught short of money when you’re out and about. PayPal has released version 2.0 of its Send Money application for iPhone, which means account-holders now have even fewer reasons to carry cold, hard cash around with them. Three nifty features in the free app are Bump, where iPhone users physically bump phones to “magically” transfer money from one account to the next, a Split Check calculator and the Collect Money function, which politely prompts debtors to pay up. Read More

The proliferation of credit cards as a payment method preferred by millions of consumers has led to the co-founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, creating Square – a credit card reader device that makes any mobile phone a cash register. Retailers can hook up the credit card reader to any device with an audio input jack, including a mobile phone. And consumers never have to worry about carrying cash again (well, almost). Read More

Nokia’s new Nokia Money service will let users send money, pay for products, recharge prepaid SIM cards and pay utility bills just by using the payee’s mobile phone number. Designed to be as simple as making a phone call or sending an SMS, the Nokia Money services will be accessible 24 hours a day anywhere there is mobile phone coverage. Read More

With around four billion mobile phones in use world wide at the end of 2008 they now outnumber credit cards in circulation by a factor of 2:1, so the proliferation of payment systems based on the ubiquitous mobile phone seems almost a certainly. We've previously reported on Near Field Communication (NFC), a new generation of mobile phones able to make contactless payments and now UK mobile phone operator Orange is partnering with businesses to offer a complete range of contactless services. Read More