Entries tagged with “LTE” from WIRELESS AND MOBILE NEWS

Verizon Wireless, on Friday,  completed its first successful Long Term Evolution (LTE) fourth generation (4G) data call in Boston announced  that it had earlier completed the first LTE 4G data call  in Seattle.  They are expecting to launch their fast data network in 100 markets in 2010.

BOKU, Inc.announced its payments service for global consumers to make online purchases of digital and virtual goods with their mobile phones. The claim they are creating a new standard for the mobile, by bringing bank-grade mobile payments to the web.

The service allows customers to pay for goods both real and virtual by giving their phone number.

The acquired Paymo and mobillcash. The received venture capital funding.

"We're very excited about the future of BOKU -- with Mobillcash's European success, Paymo's international reach, and stellar additions to the management team, the company is now very well positioned to lead the mobile payments market," stated Danny Rimer, Partner at Index Ventures.

BOKU's acquisitions of Paymo and the Mobillcash's payments give them 1.6 billion potential customers in 50+ countries on 170 mobile operators.

The mobile payment industry will experience steady growth, as the number of mobile payment users worldwide will total 73.4 million in 2009, up 70.4 percent from 2008 when there were 43.1 million users, according to Gartner, Inc.

Gartner predicts that the number of mobile payment users will reach more than 190 million in 2012, representing more than 3 percent of total mobile users worldwide and attaining a level at which it will be considered "mainstream."

The mobile payment industry will experience steady growth, as the number of mobile payment users worldwide will total 73.4 million in 2009, up 70.4 percent from 2008 when there were 43.1 million users, according to Gartner, Inc.

Gartner predicts that the number of mobile payment users will reach more than 190 million in 2012, representing more than 3 percent of total mobile users worldwide and attaining a level at which it will be considered "mainstream."

PayPal has launched a free Android app for accessing PayPal accounts. The PayPal app offers, direct integration with the contact list, recent history and balance checks.

The PayPal Android app is available on Android Market.

"And, of course, all your mobile payments are kept safe using the same start-of-the-art technology we use on paypal.com," wrote PayPal mobile team member Eric Duprat on the PayPal Blog.

PayPal is also available in MyMoneyManger for Sprint. PayPal can be accessed from a mobile web browser at mobile.paypal.com on a mobile phone. They have a text function that requires activation and a touch-tone phone for the automated voice system to check balances or send a payment.

There are over 70 million PayPal active accounts in 190 markets and 19 currencies around the world..PayPal is an eBay company and is made up of three leading online payment services: the PayPal global payments platform, the Payflow Gateway, and Bill Me Later.

Nokia has invested $70 Million in Obopay by buying of and estimated $70 million worth of preferred stock. Nokia's  eppo Paavolo, will be seated on Obopay's board of directors.

Obopay, allows users send money via text message and charges a 25 cent fee to send up to $1,000 and no fee to receive the money.

It appears the mobile payment war continues and it is expected to continue as more handset makers, credit card companies and carriers want a piece of the payment pie.

Aite Group, senior analyst Nick Holland thinks the battle for mobile payments will continue especially in developing markets and said,

"This investment indicates that the mobile payment landscape will continue to be a territorial battle between financial institutions, mobile operators, card networks, and vendors, all of which firmly believe that they deserve a piece of this still baking pie. Particularly in developing markets such as Africa and India where the case for mobile financial services has already been proven, stakeholders are rushing to capitalize on the opportunity. Aite Group expects to see other handset vendors aggressively positioning themselves within the value chain as the business models for mobile payment begin to solidify."

According to American Banker PayPal's  has an exclusive deal to be the sole payment service provider for the application store that Research in M is developing for its BlackBerry handheld devices.

When RIM opens its app store later this year, all purchases, including those customers make with credit cards, will go through PayPal's system, according to Jack Stephensen, PayPal's senior vice president of strategy and new ventures.

The BlackBerry Application StoreFront is expected in March. Applications were accepted starting in December of last year. The BlackBerry App StoreFront gives developers  80 percent of the revenue back for paid applications and 20 percent is kept to help maintain and pay for the system.

The BlackBerry Application StoreFront will support free applications, paid applications and also monthly subscription billing or try-and-buy models. They plan to support different types of billing models and operate over wireless channels for downloading of applications whether via a cellular networks or Wi-Fi.

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.

Sprint customers can now caccess their bank accounts and , send payments PayPal to friends and family from most web-enabled Sprint phones with MyMoneyManager.

MyMoneyManager is a downloadable application that enables Sprint customers with BB&T, Citibank, IBC Bank and PNC Bank accounts to conduct banking functions right on their phones, including checking balances, paying bills and finding nearby branches and ATMs.

MyMoneyManager also includes PayPal, making Sprint the first carrier to provide customers easy access to their PayPal accounts, allowing them to send money to almost anyone quickly via their Sprint phone.

To access, Sprint customers should go to www.sprint.com/mymoneymanager for download instructions for participating banks. Customers should then visit their bank's Web site to register and begin the application download process.

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.

Visa and eight North American Banks: (PNC Bank, SunTrust Bank, U.S. Bank, Wachovia, and Wells Fargo, Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, and Vancity) have agreed to initiate a pilot program with up to a total of 2,000 participants to test the delivery of real-time notification alerts on Visa accounts.

The program, is designed to enhance the consumer payment experience by alerting cardholders in real-time or near real-time of transaction activity on their Visa account - typically within seconds rather than hours or days.

Participants will receive notification alerts from Visa through email or Short Message Service (SMS) delivered directly to their mobile devices. The service allows Visa cardholders to set thresholds that will trigger a transaction alert.

T hrough the alert received via email or SMS text, cardholders can verify the transaction details, and if the transaction appears to be irregular, can immediately contact their bank to help stop further transactions on the card.

The service is designed to help cardholders keep closer track of their transactions and spending levels as they go about their daily routine. According to a recent Javelin Strategy & Research report, consumers view timely alerts as a valuable resource to help detect fraud.

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.

Sprint with the help of mFoundry and PayPal have launched MyMoneyManager a downloadable application that gives Sprint users the ability to send money via PayPal

The PayPal blog states,

"And the best part is that it's free and easy.  Just go to https://www.paypal.com/sprint to download the application on your Sprint phone.  Then, look for the PayPal Send Money icon.  With just a few clicks, you'll be sending money instantly to anyone with an email address or mobile phone number via your PayPal account."

Say, for instance, if you want to pay your sister who just bought Mom flowers. " Within a minute, your sister will get a phone call,  text message or email letting her know she has money in her PayPal account. Pretty cool?  Yeah, we think so, too!" wrrote Menekse Gencer at the PayPal blog.

Mobile payments provider, Obopay announced that Obopay will be available for BlackBerry smartphones. The new Obopay application for BlackBerry users provides fast, customizable access to Obopay's full suite of mobile payment services.

With Obopay, users can send and receive money, check their balance and payment history, and purchase goods and services. The application provides a simple mechanism for users to send money to individuals directly from their BlackBerry Address Book.

This service for Obopay users will be available this month from US carriers and at www.obopay.com.

Los Angeles, California, Mayor Villaraigosa kicked off the multi-phase Parking Management Program (PMP) and unveiled the new "Easy Park - Easy Pay" parking meters in a parking lot in North Hollywood, last week.

The "Easy Park - Easy Pay" meters - which will replace the outdated single space parking meters - are single, multi-unit, state-of-the-art machines that offer motorists a broad range of options to pay for designated parking spaces, including paying by credit card, debit card or cell phone. The new meters will alert drivers by text message when time expires

The unveiling and installation of these meters represents the first phase of Mayor Villaraigosa's PMP plan, which aims to improve parking throughout the City by giving motorists better customer service and more reliable and efficient parking meters.

"These parking meters will offer customers a more reliable and efficient way to pay for parking in Los Angeles," Mayor Villaraigosa said. "This new technology will provide LA drivers with a much more convenient alternative to the every-day stress of paying to park in this city."

The GSM Association (GSMA), the trade association of GSM mobile phone operators, and The Western Union Company announced an agreement to facilitate the development of cross-border mobile money transfer services.

Western Union and the GSMA are developing a commercial and technical framework to enable consumers to send and receive low-denomination, high-frequency money transfers using their mobile phones. Service is expect to begin the second quarter of 2008.