Developments in mobile commerce are coming so thick and fast that it is hard to keep track of the shifts. Today alone, three companies innovating in smartphone payments announced significant initiatives. Two initially similar outfits – Card.io and Jumio – appear to be diverging in interesting ways. The third, Shopkick, gained a beachhead in the retail bastion of Macy’s.
Card.io and Jumio started with a similar idea: Use a smartphone’s camera to photograph credit cards and process payments on the spot. But the two companies recently veered off in different directions. Card.io was acquired by PayPal today while Jumio partnered with JMango, a mobile solutions company.
PayPal’s Mobile Strategy
PayPal needs robust mobile presence. It has made several moves in the last year or so to fill out its mobile presence through a mixture of acquisitions and building its own services. PayPal believes that its weight as the leading processor of digital payments will translate into mobile; all the company needs to do is make a variety of services available. This has been called an arrogant approach, but it might work.
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