Pay Your Bills With a Cellphone
Google Nexus S smartphone owners will soon be able to process mobile payments from their cellular phone using near field communications technology, thanks to Charge Anywhere’s new billing software.
The mobile payments program — an Android app — lets the Nexus S function as a portable purchasing terminal, making handheld transactions via MasterCard PayPass and Visa Blink. NFC technology lets nearby mobile devices exchange information wirelessly; for example, allowing owners to instantly swipe their phone by a poster or mall kiosk to instantly pay for sodas or song downloads.
Charge Anywhere plans to roll out the software — which lets businesses process credit card, check and ACH payments for everything from concert tickets to merchandise — to additional phones shortly, as support for NFC technology is added. With mobile payments a major focus for wireless carriers and phone manufacturers in 2011, pedestrians would do well to steel themselves against the growing range of options for potential impulse buys.