Making Payments with a Mobile Phone in the UK and US

Mobile Payment hit both UK and US almost at the same time. Perhaps it happened by coincidence. In the US, the launch was accompanied by a lawsuit; and in the UK, it sparked a debate over mobile phone security. Mobile Payment is an exciting new technology. However, many users are very worried, and for good reason, as mobile phone security lags behind computer security.

Mobile Payment in the US

Ebay’s Paypal unit was quick to sue Google and two executives over proprietary rights barely a day after the search giant launched Google Wallet, which is a cool new way to make a purchase and pay with your mobile phone. PayPal is accusing two former employees, now executives at Google, of disclosing PayPal trade secrets, which eventually led to Google Wallet.

Osama Bedier and Stepanie Tilcnius are the two former eBay PayPal unit employees who are now working for Google and were headliners at the launch of Google Wallet.

Osama Bedier was a PayPal executive in charge of Mobile, Platform, and New Ventures. While with PayPal, he was head of a team charged with mobile payment and point of sale technologies. He is now in charge of mobile payment at Google where PayPal believes he has disclosed several trade secrets to Google and others.

We can't predict which way this will go. The case is before the Supreme Court of California. Maybe PayPal is just trying to get its own back after Google pulled the plug on a deal where PayPal would have served as the payment option for mobile app purchases on the Android Market. According to insiders, PayPal provided intensive courses for Google employees on mobile payments of which Osama Bedier was one of those in charge.

Mobile Payment in the UK

In the middle of May 2011, shoppers in the UK discovered a completely new way of making payments. Orange and Barclay jointly launched the service. In addition, the public has received the product with mixed feelings. How this works is simple, a shopper holds up their mobile phone against a payment terminal, enters a pin number into their mobile phone, and the contactless payment is completed. Details of the transaction are then displayed on the mobile phone.

Users can load up to $100 using Orange credit card, Barclay debit, and Barclay credit card. Orange users using the QuickTap enabled handsets can also enjoy this method of payment. More than 50,000 stores in the UK, including McDonalds, and Eat, are already embracing this method of payment.

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-By Dominic

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