Mobile Commerce News Weekly - Week of February 20, 2012

The Mobile Commerce News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile payments, mobile money, e-wallets, mobile banking and mobile security that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
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UK bank Barclays has launched a smartphone app allowing money to be sent and received using a phone number. Barclays is touting the app as the first European service that enables person-to-person mobile transfers, and allows customers to send a maximum of £300 a day and receive a daily total of £5,000. Read Original Content

The number of mobile users expected to use an NFC-enabled mobile phone as a metro rail or bus ticket is expected to grow from less than 1 percent today to 13 percent by 2016, according to a new report from Juniper Research. Read Original Content

According to Google, 62 percent of restaurant related searches on Valentine's Day were from "high end mobile devices or tablets." The volume of searches for restaurants was up drastically between February 7 and Valentine's Day, from all devices. Google says that desktop searches spiked by 142 percent, tablet searches by 135 percent, and by 359 percent on mobile devices. Read Original Content

Tech Endeavour structures a mobile application as a multi-layered application consisting of user experience, business, and data layers. The mobile application development process starts with definition of the mobile application, understanding key components, learning scenarios where it will be used, learning key patterns and technology considerations as well as identifying specific scenarios such as deployment, power usage and synchronization.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Tech Endeavour, http://www.techendeavour.com/.

PayPal said the financial information of customers using its in-store payments service is safe a day after a Visa Inc. executive suggested it lacks security. PayPal is testing a service in some Home Depot stores that allows customers to make purchases by typing in their mobile phone number and a personal-identification number. Read Original Content


Many in the industry believe that NFC will be the next must-have mobile phone feature, and there’s a lot of activity around these radio communication chips. Three areas to keep an eye on for innovation this year are pairing, paying, and play. Mobile payments are another growth area – partly because it is a shiny new idea, but also because it allows mobile carriers to start another revenue stream. Read Original Content

Less than two months since its launch, downloads of the Kaching mobile payment app from Commonwealth Bank of Australia are going through the roof. With over 110,000 downloads and an app store rating of four stars, Kaching is the second most popular free finance app in the Australian App Store. Read Original Content

If you’re going to try to revolutionize the way we pay for things, you have to reassure us that your new way is safe. Last week, Google Wallet stumbled a bit in this regard. A website called Smartphone Champ first reported the vulnerability. It turned out that anyone could get access to your Google Wallet by going into your phone, clearing the data, and setting up a new PIN. Read Original Content

Standard Bank plans to expand its cellphone banking and payment services in Africa to tap into a growing middle class that is expected to fuel one of the highest growth rates among emerging markets. The bank, which already dominates in processing mobile transactions in South Africa, would use a mobile payment platform developed locally but tailored to meet the unique conditions of various markets on the continent. Read Original Content

LevelUp, a mobile payment app, has launched in Atlanta. The free app turns an iPhone or Android smartphone into a wallet — allowing users to pay for products and services with a swipe of the device. Read Original Content

Competition in the mobile money transfer market in Africa is set to intensify, with the launch of a cross-border mobile money platform by electronic payments processor Visa. The platform is targeted at African markets to tap into billions in remittance funds flowing across borders each year. Subscribers to Visa’s new mobile money product will be able to send money across borders on the company’s network, bypassing telecommunications companies. Read Original Content

Telefónica Digital is partnering with Sybase 365 to provide mobile wallet services to customers in Europe and Latin America by Q2 2012. The virtual wallet will offer a range of services from a stored value account through to payments and peer-to-peer transfers. Read Original Content

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

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