Tag: mobile wallet

PGA Tour event uses mobile payments

| September 1, 2015

The golf event has brought a traditional experience together with some of the latest transaction tech.

Despite the fact that many of the most loved features of golf are based on centuries old traditions, the PGA Tour has invited some of the latest tech into its event by accepting mobile payments through smartphones.

To do this, the PGA Tour has partnered up with MasterCard, particularly in Edison, New Jersey.

The event held at the Barclays will use MasterCard’s mobile payments tech to make it possible for attendees to be able to buy what they want at concession stands using their smartphones. Each one of those stands is equipped with POS terminals that will allow for contactless payments, in addition to Qkr! – MasterPass. To incentivize the use of this tech for paying for these purchases, those who use their smartphones to buy will receive a discount of about 10 percent off the total bill.

Fans can make mobile payments directly using either Android or iOS based smartphones at the event.

Mobile Payments - Golf TournamentBy choosing to pay using Qkr!, fans are able to use mobile technology as a type of replacement for using a credit card. It is meant to boost the convenience level for people who will be attending the event, as people already bring their smartphones with them wherever they go. Moreover, the belief is that it will help to reduce the waiting time for the customers that are purchasing concessions.

According to PGA Tour senior vice president of corporate partnerships, Brian Oliver, “Technology plays such a critical role in enhancing the spectator experience at our golf tournaments, and our long-standing relationship with MasterCard has helped ensure that we are delivering the latest in payment technology.” He went on to point out that MasterCard is continually boosting the safety and convenience of making purchases while at the event course.

He also went on to express that they are quite excited to be using this mobile payments technology at The Barclays. The Qkr! application use is meant to help fans to be able to keep their attention on the main event so that they won’t ever miss a single thing.

Mobile wallet will be rolling out from the State Bank of India

| August 20, 2015

The new payments app will be called the SBI Buddy and it is going to be launched by the financial institution.

The State Bank of India (SBI) has now announced that it intends to jump into the rapidly growing mobile wallet category, that already features large players in the country such as Pocket, from ICICI Bank, and PayZapp, from HDFC.

The bank has revealed that it is planning to take part in this market, getting in while it is still very young.

A recent report from UBS and KPMG has shown that the mobile banking using population of India is the youngest in the world. In fact, those using their smartphones for purposes such as checking accounts and for mobile wallet apps are notably younger than the users in Europe and the United States. That report cautioned banks by saying that if they do not establish solid mobile banking strategies, they are at risk of losing their customers, and failing to be able to take advantage of sizeable cross-selling opportunities over the short term, while harming their competitive advantage over the longer term.

The report explained that banks are now taking on strategies that involve mobile wallet and banking apps.

India mobile walletIn this way, banks of all sizes are taking on an attitude of “mobile first,” while the larger institutions are working on gathering up technology startups that will give them the ability to keep up with the rapidly changing and evolving industry. The report stated that “Indian customers demonstrate the highest likelihood of changing banks driven by the availability of better mobile banking services.”

It is also important to point out that SBI isn’t the only financial institution that is currently working on developing a mobile banking or payment app to enter into the industry at this point. YES Bank and Axis Bank have also recently revealed that they will be launching their own mobile apps and that these wallets will be available to customers very soon.

The SBI Buddy mobile wallet application will soon become available to current customers of the bank, as well as to certain other subscribers. The bank has already partnered up with a number of merchants, which mean that once an m-banking account has been opened by the consumer through the mobile app, that person will be able to use mobile payments without having to download each merchant’s individual apps.