Recently in mobile payments Category

Obopay, a provider of mobile payment solutions and Fidelity National Information Services, have launched a person-to-person mobile money transfer service for financial institutions using FIS core processing services.

With the Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) mobile person-to-person (P2P) service, financial institutions can introduce branded mobile payments to their customers, who can immediately send and receive money from friends and family, anytime, anywhere - safely and securely, said FIS."

MasterCard  announced the launch of the MasterCard Over-the-Air Provisioning Service, that enables issuers to perform over-the-air personalization of their cardholders' mobile devices in an easy, one-step process. The service allows issuers to implement PayPass on mobile programs in a reduced timeframe with minimal development and implementation effort. Mobile MasterCard PayPass enables mobile devices to perform payment transactions at merchant locations with PayPass-enabled point-of-sale terminals.

Global annual mobile phone payments are expected to grow more than tenfold between 2008 and 2013, according to the Juniper 2008 Mobile Payments Study. The MasterCard Over-the-Air Provisioning Service will allow issuers to move more aggressively into the mobile payments space and capture a share of this transaction volume more quickly and with reduced up front investment.

Citibank has launched a pilot of a new mobile person-to-person money transfer service with Obopay, for new and existing Citibank customers. Beginning on October 14, 2008, the Citi Obopay mobile payment service will be offered to all Citibank customers in the U.S., with a focus on Boston, Chicago, Maryland, Philadelphia, and New Jersey

VIsa and Nokia are planning  to deliver Visa payment and payment-related services - including contactless payments, remote payments, money transfer, alerts and notifications - for Nokia's next generation handsets

The first Visa-enabled phone with the Nokia 6212 classic, expected to be available starting October 2008.

Visa Inc is planning to make mobile payment-related services broadly available to United States consumers by the end of the year and support applications for the Android platform, which will be available for download on Android-powered handsets and initially available to Chase Visa cardholders.

The first set of services that Visa is planning to develop for Android will allow Chase Visa cardholders to receive notifications to their mobile devices about transaction activity on their accounts; obtain offers'; and use the built-in location-based technology developed by Google to map nearby merchants where they can redeem Visa offers and locate ATMs that accept Visa.

Cellpoint Mobile added new features available through mPoint, mobile payment system aimed at enterprises who wish to launch a full spectrum of mobile payment services.

Cellpoint Mobile's mPoint system contains a range of mobile payment options, all integrated into the overall structure of the Mobile Enterprise Framework (MEF), the company's architectural framework that enables enterprises to mobilize existing backend systems, including legacy business applications. The MEF enables mPoint to interact with financial, billing and credit card clearing systems.

 AT&T, Inc. reported  it is the first carrier to meet the PCI standards for financial transactions.

The network and security services portfolio -- comprising Virtual Private Network (VPN), managed routers, remote access, and managed security services -- successfully evaluated by an independent third party against the Payment Card Industry's Data Security Standards. AT&T's is compliant with the applicable industry standards, enabling customers who use these AT&T services to meet their PCI standards obligations.

The PCI Data Security Standards were to maximize the protection of credit and debit card data being transferred over the Internet or stored on their networks. PCI members undergo regular audits to determine if they are compliant with these standards.

AT&T services have completed the audit process by an independent third party so that they can be listed among Visa's and MasterCard's PCI certified providers.

Millions of taxi passenger can use pay by and use GPS-based location and mapping, weather updates, national and New York City entertainment and city news available in NYC taxis thanks to a solution developed by Sprint  and VeriFone's U.S.-based taxi business, VeriFone Transportation Systems (VTS).

The collaboration has resulted in equipping 6,600 NYC taxis with a real-time integrated payment and information system, powered by Sprint Mobile Broadband and Sprint Data Link to ensure secure credit card transactions.

The system features a Passenger Information Monitor with a 10.4-inch touch screen that allows passengers to review the fare, add a tip and pay by swiping a credit card through a reader or using "tap and go" contactless payment. The system includes programming from several providers, including WABC-TV's local news, AccuWeather, Reuters Business News, People.com (the leading celebrity news site), Disney Broadway, Zagat Survey and PMbuzz.com (a leading source of information on NYC night life). It also features a GPS component that helps passengers quickly recover items accidentally left in cabs. Sprint and VTS plan to deliver a similar solution to taxis in Philadelphia, Chicago and Las Vegas.

MasterCardannounced an agreement with Obopay, Inc. to offer a fully-integrated on-demand person-to-person mobile payment service in the United States. The service, offered via MasterCard MoneySend, will give new and existing MasterCard issuing customers the ability to provide an innovative mobile payments service to their MasterCard cardholders on all credit, debit and prepaid MasterCard-branded products.

The Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC) announced an initiative to examine the various technology models supporting mobile payments today and to make recommendations on an approach that would facilitate an interoperable mobile payments infrastructure in the future.

More than 25 organizations from banking, wireless carriers and technology providers are participating to provide a broad view of the current environment and best practices. Other organizations are encouraged to join. The initiative is sponsored by The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C. as well as the American Bankers Association, BITS Financial Services Roundtable, NACHA—The Electronic Payments Association, and PaymentsNation. The FSTC has engaged KPMG to provide project management.