PayPal Unveils Mobile Payments for in-Store Shopping
No plans to rely on near-field communication
Thu, September 15, 2011
Computerworld — PayPal has unveiled a mobile payment initiative for shoppers that doesn't require near-field communication (NFC) technology inside smartphones.
The system relies instead on using smartphones and other mobile devices to scan product bar codes and to authorize payments through PayPal mobile accounts. Users will also be able to use credit-card scanning terminals commonly seen in grocery stores: The user inputs a phone number and PIN on the terminal's keypad instead of swiping a credit or debit card.
PayPal President Scott Thompson laid out the basics of the plan in a blog posted Wednesday. In the blog, he also took a swipe at competitors, including Google , MasterCard, Visa and others, who are working with NFC in smartphones for a mobile wallet.
"Let's be clear about something -- we're not just shoving a credit card on a phone," Thompson said in his blog.
PayPal is already a major global force in online payments, with 100 million customers. While PayPal's new payment technologies don't rely on NFC, they do propose making in-store payments possible from any device and support GPS-based offers, according to Thompson's blog. PayPal will even allow for customers to set up payments on credit after they've checked out.
Along with a Thompson's blog is a video showing the various methods of payment that PayPal will support. Thompson also promised more details at the X.commerce Innovate Conference Oct. 12-13 in San Francisco.
In the video, one user pays for groceries at a terminal by inputting a phone number and PIN on a terminal. In another segment, the user scans a barcode on a product with a smartphone, uses the phone to pay for it and walks out of the store with the merchandise while showing the clerk her phone was used for payment.
Dozens of merchants got a sneak peak of the technology Wednesday at an event PayPal sponsored. The event was covered by All Things D , which was not allowed to take photographs, but posted a story. In addition to the payment methods shown in the PayPal video, that story said PayPal will allow customers to continue using plastic cards, issued by PayPal, for payment.
In an interview posted on AllThingsD, Thompson said the PayPal approach doesn't require merchants to install new terminals, nor does it require customers to buy a new smartphone.
While Thompson didn't rule out NFC, he did say, "We are not embracing technology," adding that working with NFC on a specific phone with a certain network and banks might only service "50 people out of 350 million people in the U.S."
