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MMS-Club.Com is the only web site where you can send MMS all over India in a fast, secure and reliable way. We guarantee instant delivery on all mobile networks, and the person receiving the MMS does not need to have any specific MMS settings installed on his/her phone.

Indian Bank Partners with PayMate for Mobile Payment

Lakshmi Vilas Bank

, one of South India’s premier private banks, has tied up with PayMate, India’s leading mobile commerce company, to provide mobile payment solutions to its customers across 250 branches in India. With this partnership, LVB will be joining a select group of large public sector as well as private & MNC banks that have embraced the potential of mobile banking and payments.

With PayMate, Lakshmi Vilas Bank customers will be able to use their mobile to pay for mobile recharge, utility bills, movie & flight tickets, online purchase, retail shopping and so much more at over 15,000 merchants in India registered with PayMate.

According to V.S Reddy, MD & CEO, Lakshmi Vilas Bank “As a heritage bank with a rich history, what differentiates us from others is our relationship with our customers and the value we offer them. We always strive to bring the best of banking convenience to our customers whether it is through improved services over the years or through technologies that enable them to do more. Our partnership with PayMate will enable us to do both with an exciting mobile payment solution for our customers. ”.

Ajay Adiseshann, MD and Founder, PayMate says, “Our alliance with Lakshmi Vilas Bank will further bolster our payments ecosystem. Further, we are excited to bring mobile payments to LVB’s customers and are confident that the sheer convenience of using their phones to make payments will drive the uptake and enhance customer satisfaction & loyalty .”

Standalone Systems Blocking the Way - Mobile payments

Take-up of mobile payments is being held back by the lack of interoperability between banking systems in Europe, analysts believe.

While traditional online banking has achieved a degree of popularity - some 30 per cent of the UK population is thought to use it - mobile banking has to date received a somewhat lukewarm reception in Britain, despite banks’ attempts to attract users to the services in order to encourage customer loyalty and cut customer service costs.

According to a new report by financial services researchers Celent, incompatible systems within the continent are preventing mobile payments such as proximity payments, remote payments and remittances from spreading between EU countries.

“These mobile payment schemes are typically standalone, meaning that they are not interoperable, whether across or within national borders. This greatly limits the scalability and acceptance of any one solution,” the report notes.

To get things moving, Celent believes a Europe-wide system is necessary.

“It will take a pan-European payment infrastructure to move the mobile payments adoption needle. The only players seemingly capable of doing so are the card payment brands or the Sepa (Single Euro Payments Area) initiative, but little has been accomplished so far,” the report adds.

Nevertheless, it predicts the UK is ripe for growth in one type of mobile payment - remittances - following the launch of services like Vodafone’s M-Pesa and Natwest’s Polish money transfer offering.

“The UK has a relatively high immigrant population, so if the M-Pesa and Natwest remittance services catch on in their specific corridors (UK-Kenya and UK-Poland), mobile-based remittances will gain considerable popularity,” the Celent report said.

Western Union Partners with Sybase for Global Mobile Payments

Western Union has just introduced a partner program with the goal of extablishing a global network for mobile payments and mobile money transfers, through a network of partners, each dedicated to their niches and markets.

Everybody needs some money sometimes. That is precisely why money-transfer giant Western Union Co. has launched its Digital Vendor Program.

The program is intended to extend the reach and accessibility of the company’s services to mobile finance initiatives in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Fundamo, mChek, Sybase 365 and Utiba Pte are certified to offer Western Union’s money transfer service capability as a component in their software and services offerings.

“This is a strategic partnership for Sybase 365, since it allows us to be the solutions integrator for mobile money transfers globally,” said Eckhard Ortwein, area vice president of EMEA for Sybase 365, Dublin, CA. “As part of this announcement, Sybase 365 will provide the technology backbone to integrate operators and banks into the Western Union network.

“The partnership with Sybase 365 allows Western Union to extend their reach globally through digital channels,” he said. “The challenging part for digital solutions is integration, since it requires the participation of banks, operators and money transfer organizations.

“With our partnership, Western Union can now extend its reach globally, beyond physical agents.”

The Western Union Co., together with its Vigo and Orlandi Valuta-branded money transfer services, provides consumers with ways to send and receive money worldwide, as well as send payments and buy money orders.

Western Union entered the mobile finance space in the second quarter of 2008, with an endorsement for a global pilot program by the GSM Association, a global trade association representing more than 750 mobile carriers worldwide.

The Western Union Digital Vendor Program is open to mobile finance platform vendors who have successfully deployed a mobile money offering.

Certified vendors agree to maintain current version control against the Western Union money transfer service interface.

A direct contractual relationship with Western Union is required to activate its money transfer services.

The first providers to join Western Union’s certification program are four mobile finance platform providers with both active and planned service implementations: South Africa-based Fundamo, India-based mChek, U.S.-based Sybase 365 and Singapore-based Utiba Pte.

Successful mobile money service offerings are typically deployed on a single-country basis and include three service providers working together in a single mobile finance ecosystem, according to Western Union.

Participants in this ecosystem include carriers, financial institutions and mobile platform providers.

Western Union connects into this ecosystem by providing money-transfer capabilities.

The company is certifying mobile platform vendors to reduce integration costs and accelerate go-to-market activities for banks and carriers by creating standard technical deployments.

Once a bank or carrier contracts with Western Union to activate its mobile money transfer service, its consumers will be able to send and/or receive money through Western Union’s global money transfer system, connected to more than 334,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories.

The number of mobile phone subscribers is approaching 4 billion, which more than doubles the number of Internet users.

With the world’s top markets such as China and India having less than 40 percent mobile phone penetration, it is easy to see that the future growth will be in emerging markets, rising to 5 billion mobile phones by 2012, according to Sybase.

In absolute terms, this is the potential size for mobile commerce and mobile money opportunities, as all mobile phones are capable of sending and receiving data in the form of text messages. 

“Market uptake is driven largely by two areas of mobile payments: remote payments to initiate transactions in any ‘e’ or mCommerce scenario and proximity payments to initiate face-to-face transactions in real-world scenarios,” Mr. Ortwein said.

“The uptake in emerging markets will be driven by remote payments, in particular SMS-based services such as domestic or cross-border person-to-person fund transfers,” he said.

“The uptake in developed markets will be driven by the commercialization of proximity payments using Near Field Communications—NFC—and mainstream payment applications creating a healthy alternative to cash, credit or debit cards.”

The demand for mobile commerce and mobile money related processing services, systems, software and associated support and consultancy is estimated to rise to more than $10 billion in 2013, according to Sybase.

“Mobile payments have particularly taken off in Asia and Europe,” Mr. Ortwein said.

MoBank Launches Mobile SMS Banking Service for iPhone

So here is a bit of old news, however highly relevant when looking at some of the other mobile banking / mobile payment services we have been posting about recently.

MoBank is one of a huge number of new m-finance / mobile payment services. Launched early in July, this service connects directly to one of your existing bank accounts. You register a credit or debit card with the service, and all further transactions are done using a secure PIN. This means that no sensitive details are ever stored on your device.
MoBank connects through a transaction system from txttrans - which allow items from cinema tickets to books to be paid for over your mobile. Bill pay options, p2p transactions and account management are all in the pipeline, but aren’t currently available. Speaking of “not currently available”, the service can only currently used on iPhone. Blackberry and Android support are on the way.

From the release:

Russell Sheffield, CEO of txttrans, says: “Mobile Internet use is growing at such a pace that within four years, mobile payments and banking will be the norm for an entire generation of people. MoBank and txttrans are right at the beginning of that curve. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be involved.”

Steve Townend, CEO and founder of MoBank, says: “These days, people – especially the under 30s – expect to be able to run their lives on the move. A mobile phone is the one device most people couldn’t do without. Now you can run your banking, shopping and money management from it, too. It’s about taking control of when, where and how you want to do things.”

What we think?

This service looks good, but it has pros and cons when compared to the exploding m-finance and mobile payment market. The main problem is that it’s only accessible via iPhone. Even when Android and Blackberry support comes on-line, there will still be huge numbers of devices that can’t use it. I do like the PIN system - it keeps your credit card details away from transactions, like PayPal.

TrustCash Launches Mobile Payment Service

US online payment services provider TrustCash plans to enter the mobile payments market. The company seeks to partner with key industry players and consultants, appoint an expert team and start providing mobile payments services. Trustcash currently develops a technology platform designed to enable customers to make anonymous mobile payment purchases online without using a credit card. The company is already in talks with Alligato, a Canadian provider of mobile long-distance services, regarding the delivery of an alternative payment service.
It sounds like the plans are still a bit far from being executed, the key thing here will probably be whether TrustCash can get 1 or 2 large nationwide partners to sign with them for a payment alliance. That would heavily broaden their scope. TrustCash now provides a normal wallet service, where consumers can refill their online account to pay for online services.
All research shows that there is definitely a market for something like this in the mobile payments sector, but there are right now a lot of aspiring small players trying to win the overall consumer market.

Ten Top Mobile Payment Companies

So I discovered this brilliant article covering some of the major mobile payment players currently leading in their respective payment sub-genres. If you have more companies that would fit in this list, we would love to hear from you at vasreport@vasreport.com

Mobile banking is becoming increasingly popular but there are still only a handful of companies out there that are offering good mobile payment systems. There are basically two types of these companies: those that let you use your phone to charge payments to your bank account and those that let you charge payments to your cell phone bill. Most of the companies that are working in this industry are independent startups but there are also a few huge industry players that are involved in this game.

Pay from your Bank Account Using Your Phone

One type of mobile payment account that’s becoming popular is the one that offers the possibility to use your mobile phone to make payments from your bank account. To do this, you link your mobile phone to your checking or credit card account. Then you can swipe the phone at contactless pay stations. The money for the transaction is drawn directly out of your bank account in the same way that would happen with a debit card.

Some of the companies that offer this type of mobile payment option are:

1. Bling Nation. This is a really impressive startup company that creates RFID-enabled stickers which can be attached to mobile phone handsets so that the phones can then be used to make contactless payments. The stickers essentially work like debit cards in that they must be activated before use and are linked with the user’s bank account. The startup markets these stickers to banks who can then offer them to their customers as an easy way to make mobile payments. The sticker is put on the phone and can then be swiped at stores that offer contactless payment solutions. The money is immediately withdrawn from the account and a receipt for the purchase is sent via text message. The company is a new one but it must have a good business plan since it’s already raised $8 million in funding.

2. Mobile Payment Skins. A company that is offering something similar to Bling Nation is Mobile Payment Skins. This company makes mobile phone skins. The skins have an RFID inlay which allows the phones to be used for making contactless payments. Right now the company is working with prepaid accounts; people put money into an account and use the phone to withdraw that money. However, Mobile Payment Skins would also like to work with banks and credit card companies to offer more account options in the future.

3. Obopay. One of the most well-funded companies that offers mobile payments linked to a bank account is Obopay. The company is versatile in that it offers both bank accounts (which can be linked to an Obopay Mastercard) and prepaid accounts. You sign up for a free account with Obopay and then you can make payments and receive payments using the account. It works for making purchases from stores as well as for exchanging money with individuals (such as family members). What you pay is a small transaction fee when you make payments.

4. Vesta. This company offers mobile payment solutions that are designed to meet not only the needs of the average consumer but also those of professionals working in various types of business. Their mobile payments can be made using SMS, MMS and SIM-based technologies and can be linked to a credit card, checking account or prepaid mobile account.

5. Verrus. One variation on this type of mobile payment is the one in which you use your mobile phone to place a phone call to complete a transaction. When you make the call, the money is withdrawn from your account (or charged to a credit card that you have on file). Verrus offers this service for specific transactions. You can use their pay-by-phone service to pay for taxi fares and parking in certain U.S. states. Just call the number, complete the voice transaction and receive your receipt online.

Charge Payments to your Cell Phone Bill

Another type of mobile payment option is the option to pay for transactions using your mobile phone but to have the payment billed to your phone bill instead of taken from your account. This is nice for people who don’t have bank accounts or who don’t want to withdraw money from their banks on a regular basis. These types of mobile payments are most commonly used for purchasing virtual products and services. For example, you may want to buy a computer game online and you could pay for that with your cell phone. The transaction would show up on your next cell phone bill.

6. Boku. This company made headlines in early June when it made three huge announcements at once. First, it announced the official public launch of the company. Second, it announced that it would be making two huge acquisitions of other mobile payment companies. And finally, it announced that it had received $13 million in venture capital funding to make all of this happen. The company aims to have a global reach and therefore to work as a method of making mobile payments across a diverse range of different websites.

7. Zong. The main competitor that Boku is facing in terms of a similar type of mobile payment service is Zong. This company got a toehold in the industry when it started working with Outspark, a popular computer gaming company. Customers could use Zong to make mobile payments for the games that they wanted to play. Zong also began working with Facebook application developers and other leading websites. Right now Boku and Zong are going head-to-head in this type of mobile payment business.

Some of the Big Guys

These startup companies are all offering some really great options for making mobile payments. However, there are a lot of big companies that are getting involved in this industry as well. Credit card companies, banks and handset makers are all interested in making some money off of mobile payments.

8. PayPal Mobile. One of the most popular mobile banking systems today is PayPal mobile. This is simply a mobile version of your online PayPal account which lets you make PayPal payment transactions from your mobile phone.

9. Visa / Nokia. One of the biggest partnerships in the mobile payments business has been the partnership between Nokia and Visa. Nokia is starting to offer NFC-enabled handsets which are being rolled out globally with assistance from Visa to offer contactless payments through the mobile phone. Learn more about that here.

10. Smartphone makers. Today’s advanced smartphones all offer easy access to the mobile web which is significantly improving the ability to make mobile payments from anywhere. The iPhone, Blackberry phones and Android handsets are all big players in using the mobile web to make payments. As mobile banking applications develop for these phones, their role in the mobile payment industry will only grow.

Pre-Paid Payment Cards for Mobile Payment: NatWest

An interesting new take on a mobile payment solution which is easy to implement and has a low launch threshold is the following one, which has just seen the light of day:

NatWest is launching two pre-paid cards that can be topped up from mobile phones in partnership with O2.

The cards under the “O2 Money” brand comprise one product for children – which cannot be used for services such as gambling, in shops or online – and another card for adults, which is pitched as a “cash manager” where customers can “ring-fence their disposable income”.

When customers use the cards – accepted across the Visa network and available at the end of August – they will be sent text updates to their mobile so they know how much credit they have left.

“The strength of our brand and relationship with our customers gives us the ideal opportunity to take O2 into a completely new market,” said O2 UK chief executive Ronan Dunne.

“By bringing a fresh, transparent and customer-focused approach to pre-paid cards, we plan to drive this market and take a significant share,” he said.

“In partnership with NatWest, O2 Money is delivering new and innovative ways of helping our customers better connect with their money.”

The joint venture is the latest move from mobile operators attempting to expand their financial services offering and follows the likes of Barclaycard, which has partnered with Orange to develop new mobile payment technology for transactions under £10.

Mobile Payment: Will that be cash, check or cell phone

The following is a very interesting article from www.creditcards.com covering the global perspective of mobile payments. Comments on this is high appreciated:

While on a trip to South Korea, Chen, a 24-year-old graphic designer from Sacramento, Calif., noticed how people whipped out cell phones when it came time to pay. One of her friends had a mobile phone from SK Telecom, South Korea’s biggest mobile operator, that let her fill her commuter train account when it fell below a certain amount, and remotely send the charges to her Visa account. “She just held out her phone as we walked through the turnstile,” said Chen. “I got spoiled. Now I want to do the same with my phone.”

That’s what credit card issuers want to hear from customers, and they’re working hard on rolling out mobile payment technology to U.S. customers. However, compared to Europe and especially Asia, payment by cell phone here is still in its infancy. Analysts say it will take a while for card issuers to evaluate how well the technology works and whether consumers — beyond hip youngsters like Chen — will accept it.

Pay by phone: SMS or NFC?
There are two types of payment technologies used on cell phones. Short Message Service (SMS), or texting, allows a transaction by typing a dollar amount into your phone and sending it to the payee. With Near Field Communication (NFC), you swipe your phone like a credit card near a terminal. Both types use the phone’s Internet browser to reach a remote Web server to approve payment.

NFC is used in “contactless cards,” which many card issuers are introducing for use at special terminals in stores. The SK Telecom phone Chen’s friend used for train tickets had Visa’s payWave technology, used in contactless cards. But for now, NFC on cell phones is only being used in Asia.

SMS is seen as an easier technology in the United States because it works on all phone networks and doesn’t require any special software to work. Visa is also focusing on SMS transactions, working with U.S. and Canadian banks such as PNC Bank, SunTrust and Wells Fargo on trials that let cardholders get text messages on their phones when they pay for something with a credit card.

The action is overseas
Visa is rolling out mobile payment pilot programs worldwide with SMS, NFC and more cutting-edge 3G and 4G phone networks. For example, employees of banks in Spain and Taiwan are using Nokia phones with payWave to pay at stores in major cities. There are also major pilots in Australia, Brazil, Guatemala and the United Kingdom.

In May 2008, MasterCard Canada did a four-month trial testing its PayPass contactless technology (which is currently used in the United States) in NFC phones on Bell Mobility’s wireless networks.

So why is this technology being tested everywhere but here? There’s simply no interest, says Edward Kountz, a Forrester Research analyst studying mobile payments. In a 2008 study, he found that just 6 percent of Internet users — and only 10 percent of mobile device users –were interested in paying by phone.

“The high availability of credit cards and online payment alternatives are commonly understood and accepted,” he wrote. “But establishing awareness and trust around mobile payments increases the challenges of phone transactions. Compare that to markets like the Philippines, where many have embraced mobile as the first and only electronic alternative to cash payments.”

Jane Cloninger, research director at financial services consultancy Edgar, Dunn & Co., says Asia’s lifestyles make people there more apt to embrace mobile payment than Americans. “Those countries, with their dense housing and cities, have put more money into transit and wireless infrastructures, which has made cell phones more advanced and really helped spur adoption. It was seamless to use them first at train stations, then sandwich shops near the platform and so on. In the United States, we don’t have the same density in our cities. It will take more than a PayPass-like application to spur adoption here.”

There are a few U.S. companies working on mobile payments, both with card companies and on their own. Obopay lets you create a PayPal-type account to deposit money and download software onto your phone to make or receive payments with other Obopay customers. It currently has a mobile pilot program with Citibank.

Paymo lets subscribers in 50 countries use their phones to pay bills and buy in advance from merchants. Users enter their phone number to initiate the transaction and then confirm a purchase via text message. When the transaction is complete, it goes directly to their cell phone bill. MyTango has a pilot program in Northern California that allows phone users to do the same at a few merchants near Stanford University.

The next step: mobile banking
While mobile payments gain traction, card issuers are using an alternative method to get customers interested in making payments anytime, anywhere — “mobile banking” programs that can be used on most cell phones.

For example, Bank of America Mobile Banking lets customers check balances on their credit card accounts, pay bills, transfer money between accounts and view transactions. It launched last October on the new Google Android phone system. An app for BlackBerry devices soon followed, launching in January.

American Express and Discover also offer mobile banking apps. You can get text alerts about when payments are due and received, balance updates and limits, membership points balances and irregular account activity. (Visa has the same, but it’s currently only for Chase cardholders.)

With the iPhone craze, many banks, including Bank of America, Provident, USAA and Wells Fargo, have created mobile banking apps for Apple users to download for free.

For smaller banks with less of a tech budget, AT&T and cell phone maker Qualcomm created an iPhone application called Firethorn that lets their customers get the same access.

Prakash Hariramani, a manager for Visa’s global product innovation, says these free apps are a good way for card issuers to gauge customers’ interest. “It’s a great way to get them snacking on financial services because NFC is not prevalent here yet. Once they get used to this, it will be a much easier adjustment when the NFC rollout arrives.”

Until that happens, card issuers are doing more pilot programs in the United States that sidestep NFC. MasterCard has pilots for its Blaze Mobile sticker — literally, a sticker containing its PayPass contactless technology. It can be put on any phone to make transactions at stores that accept PayPass. (Analysts say it’s a good step, but the sticker is not as safe or secure as NFC).

MasterCard may be taking the biggest leap into mobile payments by launching a 21st century version of Western Union. Its MoneySend program, a partnership with Obopay that launched in May, offers person-to person money transfers via any cell phone in the United States. Sign up for a prepaid account online and you can use your credit card, debit card or bank account to transfer funds to anyone. (They also have to register to state where they want your money to be deposited.) Send a text confirmation to the recipient, then you’ll get a call from MasterCard to enter a special PIN to verify the amount and the recipient. Currently, you can transfer anywhere between $1 and $500 for a small fee, although MasterCard expects some partner banks to waive that fee to get people interested. As with credit cards, you’re not liable for any unauthorized charges.

Discover, which has done four small mobile pilot programs in the past two years, has a similar contactless sticker with its Zip technology, currently being tested by company employees. Farhan Ahmad, director of emerging payments for Discover, says there’s no rush to get it to market. “We will slowly roll it out, but only where it’s appropriate. We won’t open it to those who may not take advantage of it.”

What’s the holdup?
Why are card issuers so reluctant about rollouts? It basically comes down to a chicken-or-egg problem, says Ahmad, who is candid about the multiple challenges in getting new technology to market. “First, you need a new type of card reader at the retailer. What technology do you use, and who pays for it? Second, how do all the different players come together, and what economic model will they use? Then there’s a layer of complexity in user adoption because people use hundreds of different types of phones and applications. It’s all very unclear, so we’ve been testing a lot of technologies to hash out the challenges and figure what works best.”

Hariramani at Visa agrees there’s no timeline for a NFC rollout, as phones with that technology aren’t yet widespread in the United States, but he says Visa is actively talking with wireless carriers and banks about setting common standards. “Everyone is interested in mobile, but some are more interested than others, such as retailers in quick-service areas, like convenience stores. So where you need more speed and convenience is where you may see the technology first.”

How long will that be? Tech analysts believe NFC mobile payments won’t hit the United States until at least 2012. But with mobile banking fast gaining traction worldwide, it’s inevitable that many Americans will eventually be switching from whipping out plastic to waving phones around at the train turnstile and store scanner.

Says Ahmad, “I think pay-by-phone will be adapted quickly because when someone loses his credit card, it may take a day before he realizes it. But if he loses his phone, he’ll notice in about 20 minutes. A cell phone changes the way you interact with the world.”

And it will soon change the way you spend your money.