Facebook has added PayPal (alongside existing card payments and mobile-payments, Zong) as an option for people wanting to by Facebook credits, which, in turn, allow the purchase of virtual goods.
http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=21105
Jack Dorsey's new start-up, Square, which turns a phone into a card-payment terminal, now has further competition from iCharge, following on from Verifone's similar offering.
http://eu.techcrunch.com/2010/02/11/icharge-jack-dorseys-square-gets-some-european-competition/
http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/07/verifone-square/
A lot of concerns have been expressed about the lack of security of such apporaches and the potential for abuse.
(Jack Dorsey formerly set up Twitter.)
Jock Dorsey's new start-up, Square, which turns a phone into a card-payment terminal, now has further competition from iCharge, following on from Verifone's similar offering.
http://eu.techcrunch.com/2010/02/11/icharge-jack-dorseys-square-gets-some-european-competition/
http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/07/verifone-square/
A lot of concerns have been expressed about the lack of security of such apporaches and the potential for abuse.
(Jack Dorsey was one of the founders of Twitter.)
Interesting article from TechCrunch listing together some of the potentially disruptive start-ups in the payments/finance industry.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/14/is-the-internet-finally-robbing-the-gree...
Orange and Barclaycard launch a contactless credit card. O2 is also working with NatWest.
http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=20924
PayPal recently opened up its API to external developers. An app that lets you compare prices by scanning bar codes into your phone has built on PayPal's API to allow you to pay direct from your phone once you've done your price comparison.
http://www.allpaynews.com/content/big-japan-launches-mobile-payments-shopsavv...
It's really impressive to see how the confluence of several different technologies can create a great new service and have significant knock-on effects for retailing.
More about the ShopSavvy app here: http://www.biggu.com/apps/shopsavvy-android/
Another mobile payments operator targeting the online games area.
Zong develops its mobile payments service to cater for micropayments.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/29/meet-zong-a-mobile-payments-platform-on-...
Much buzz over Google's plans to provide micropayments and the hope of providing much needed revenue for the newspaper industry.
I don't know that it's going to save many of the newspapers feeling economic pressure at the minute but a popular micro-payments system could drive other revolutionary changes online and make viable a whole host of new business models.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/google-plans-tools-to-help-news-medi...
