Thursday, 07 June 2012 09:20

Facebook Rolls Out New 2-Step Mobile Payments System, Could This Be Part of the Phone Development?

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facebook_moneyDo you remember the Facebook phone rumors that ran around the internet? There were articles both for and against a phone that centered on the social networking (and often privacy intruding) giant. I personally do not think it would be a good idea or that it will go over well with many consumers in the US (Europe is another matter though). However, when we talked with Paul Amsellem, CEO of Mobile Network Group, he mentioned that one of the things that Facebook would need to do is develop a better mobile payments system…

Well Facebook developers have just rolled out a mobile payment system. The new system is called the “low-friction carrier billing” and Facebook developers claim it is only two steps long. You open the offer, tap buy and then confirm. That is it…
FB-Payments
The new system is currently available to multiple carriers in the US and the UK (getting that UK Market early) although so far Verizon is not listed as being part of the group. Right now the payment system is only for Facebook games, but we imagine that this system could be easily extended beyond the Facebook Mobile app to include other items.

If the phone rumors are actually true the next step we would probably see if further integration into a mobile… oh wait, this one is already happening with the next version of iOS. We now have two items on the list for Facebook to be serious about a Facebook branded phone.

What we would expect to see next is Facebook to work on extending their new payment system as well as extend the number of “phone” apps that they have. Something that many people have complained about could be a move to create their core phone applications. After all, why would Facebook continue to develop separate Camera, Messenger, and even the Contacts systems if they were not intended to operate independently of the core Facebook App.

We will continue to dig around and see if we can get more information from the potential partners that many have claimed will get in on the Facephone wagon. We still do not think it is a great idea, but things are starting to shape up and point in that direction. Facebook is also laying the ground work to prevent possible alienation for their existing applications as well, which is a very smart move on their part.

 

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Read 2387 times Last modified on Thursday, 07 June 2012 09:30

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