Novel app transforms phones into credit cards


29 Sep 2010

A new app allows iPhone users to pay for goods on their credit or debit card without physically having their credit card.

Start-up company MobilePay has created the app that enables users, without their card on hand, to link to an iPhone app. It then automatically authenticates with vendors to transfer payment to the vendor.

By linking banking and credit cards to their MobilePay accounts, users can utilise the app at any retailer that participates with the payment service in the US.

No more plastic payments

Payment is relatively simple and users need only enter in the amount owed like a regular credit card transaction, with the option of cash back, and press send. MobilePay then sends authentication to the vendor’s machine to authorise payment.

MobilePay charges 1pc of each transaction as payment for the service. It also features a function that delivers targeted advertising to individual customers.

Whether or not the app will make its way to Ireland remains to be seen, but should it succeed in the US, it could revolutionise shopping habits globally.

The service will go live in November, according to president of MobilePay, Kyle Circle, and was this year’s winner of the audience choice award at the TechCrunch Disrupt Show in San Francisco, US.