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Iranian mobile operator MTN-Irancell teamed up with technology provider Etick Pars Intelligent Technologies Development and Bank Pasargad to demonstrate a number of NFC services such as payments and ticketing designed for the Iranian market, writes online publication NFCWorld.com citing Etick. Etick and Irancell will test a system that enables the recharge of prepaid accounts on NFC mobile wallets by either transferring money from bank accounts or making a cash deposit at a contactless point-of-sale terminal, Etick project manager Bahram Ehsandoust told NFC World. If required, funds may also be transferred back from mobile wallets to bank accounts. Using their NFC mobile wallet, end-users will be able to pay for retail purchases, for bus tickets in the cities of Mashhad and Ahwaz, where Etick runs the current smart card-based public transportation ticketing system, and for purchases from vending machines. At the same time, customer loyalty applications have been developed. Both NFC phones using a SIM as a secure element as well as Gemalto's Upteq N-Flex NFC device support the tested technology.

Google is finally opening up its near field communication payment system, Google Wallet, today to the public, allowing Nexus S users on Sprint to try out contactless payments through their smartphone. It’s a little later than originally expected and again, with only one handset that supports it, Google Wallet is just the first step in a long process.

But it’s a significant one that begins a much broader effort by Google to change both the way people pay for goods in the real world and interact with merchants and retailers. Toward that end, Google announced today that it has struck deals with American Express, Visa and Discover so their cards will also be integrated into future versions of Google Wallet. Initially, Google Wallet launched with MasterCard as its first partner. But now, banks that issue cards through Visa and Discover will soon be able to load up their accounts directly on to Google Wallet.

For Google, the wallet initiative signals a new opportunity to market deals and discounts to consumers and allows merchants a new way to reach consumers and strengthen their relationships with them through discounts and loyalty programs. And it enables them to close the loop on transactions, so they can see how effective their marketing is.

Michael Abbott, the CEO of carrier-backed mobile payments joint venture Isis, has an interesting take on rival Google Wallet: "It's the best thing that could happen."

That's not the sort of thing you would expect to hear from the head of a venture that is planning to roll out its own mobile-payment system, designed to allow consumers to tap their phone on special terminals to pay for goods. Abbott, however, holds a longer-term view of the business, and believes that the entry by multiple parties is a good thing. It generates greater consumer awareness, stirs the various retailers, carriers, handset makers and banks into motion, and generally gets the debate about mobile payments flowing. He doesn't believe there will be any clear-cut winners or losers, and expects to see many options for consumers.

"There will be multiple solutions out there, and none of them are wrong," Abbott said in an interview with CNET, noting that "competition is what this space needs."

The space for mobile payments has heated up really fast over the past couple of years. One thing that we’ve started to see more of lately are applications that focus more on peer-to-peer payments versus something that you’d use to see a business. With PayPal implementing NFC, Dwolla providing software solutions to hardware problems and Venmo firmly in between all of it, the space is getting crowded quite fast.

Funds can be added to Clover via any credit card, but not directly from your bank or PayPal.

To withdraw, you can do immediate transfers to your PayPal, or a bank transfer in 2-3 days. Obviously, if you’re using PayPal, you’re going to get a fee tacked onto transactions. Bank transfers might have them as well, depending on your particular bank’s methods.

iTnews is reporting this morning that the Bank of New Zealand has begun a Near Field Communications (NFC) payments trial, in partnership with Vodafone NZ and Visa.

The news comes quickly after the Commonwealth Bank announced its ‘Kaching’ iPhone app. Kaching will use a case over the phone to enable contactless payments, as well as allowing users to pay to mobile, Facebook and email.

CBA’s Kelly Bayer Rosmarin will present in Australia’s only dedicated NFC conference. To find out more about NFC in Australia and New Zealand, click here.

New mobile payment services help banks realise the future of payments

Visa Europe, Europe’s leading payments technology company, today announced the launch of Visa Mobile Person-to-Person payments and Visa Alerts: two new services designed to help consumers manage their money and make payments using their mobile phones.

the new services give Visa Europe’s member banks the tools to respond to growing consumer demand for fast, secure, convenient and innovative ways to make and manage payments using their mobile phones.

As with all things Internet, the future of mobile payments is going to be fragmented, making the promise of a digital wallet on your phone a lot less exciting. Having a phone act as a credit card makes things faster, more convenient and might even lead to more bargains. But the way things are panning out, only people who meet very specific cell phone, bank, and credit card company criteria can join in on the fun. Just today, Verizon blocked Google Wallet from its phones, reports The Wall Street Journal's Amir Efrati and Anton Troianovski. So for those with multiple credit cards, or without a Citi Master Card, Google Wallet can't replace a wallet, giving it a major utility handicap.

As of right now, Google's mobile payment tech only works on Sprint phones with Citi Bank Master Cards. That applies to a very specific set of people. Of course, Google doesn't have the only digital wallet replacement out there. For everyone else, there's Verizon, who has teamed up with T-Mobile and  At&T to work on its version, Isis, which will begin trials next year, note Efrati and Troianovski. And Visa too is apparently in the works for its own mobile payments system, they add. We also can't forget third party apps like Square, Venmo and ZipPay, which allow users to pay others who have the app using stored credit card information. This almost works as a replacement for the wallet, and would theoretically work better than Google Wallet, if only every single place everywhere accepted Square payments -- but they don't. 

So we have two types of fragmentation happening in the mobile payments world. With these "wallet" payment systems, like Google Wallet and Visa's mystery service, the service is only as useful as having that single credit card. And then the system is fracturing on a retailer level. Even with Google Wallet, only stores with the compatible card reader accept it; same with the Square-like services. While the number of retailers accepting Square has grown, as this chart posted by The Atlantic's Alexis Madrigal shows, it can't become a wallet replacement unless every single retailer has it. The same applies to Google Wallet: Not every retailer has the capabilities. Like we've seen with Netflix and streaming movies, the services are nice supplements to cable. But not yet a replacement because they all have somethings but no one has all things. The same can be applied to mobile payments. They all can be used with some credit cards and at some retailers, but we won't leave our wallets at home until we get a cord-cutting equivalent. For now, users either have to load a smorgasbord of mobile payment apps, or settle for the current half-hearted solutions. 

MTN Irancell, one of Iran’s mobile operators, has teamed up with Etick Pars Intelligent Technologies and Bank Pasargad to develop a mobile wallet solution for the Iranian Market.

According to Telecompaper, Etick and Irancell plan to test a system that will enable customers to make contactless mobile purchases from a prepaid account that can be reloaded through bank transfers or cash deposits at contactless point of sale terminal.

The mobile wallet will also support transit ticketing. Starting with buses in Mashad and Ahwaz, which currently operates under a smart card-based ticketing system from Etick, commuters will be able to purchase and redeem transit passes with a tap of their mobile phone.

PayPal’s mobile payment system has gone live at 51 Home Depot stores in the US.

The eBay-owned company has also reported that its mobile payment volume reached $4bn in 2011.

PayPal’s new mobile payment system, which was trialled by eBay CEO John Donahoe, allows users to pay at the till by entering their mobile phone number and PIN.

Des Moines is the home of mobile payments platform Dwolla. It is an interesting case study - local startup creating buzz within the community and getting retailers and consumers to actually use the platform. Dwolla has created a mobile payments ecosystem from the bottom up.

Within a 5-mile radius of Des Moines there are 500 to 700 business that are using mobile payments through Dwolla. The company works kind of like a payments version of Foursquare. You check at the register in the store using your phone and a pre-loaded Dwolla account.

it is likely that the company will be able to partner with banks and financial institutions in the near future to go straight from a bank account to the retailer.

Mobile payment solutions cover Africa with basic services including domestic remittances, person to person payments and airtime top-up capabilities.

All of these are only possible because of "cash-in" and "cash-out" features installed at agents. Even these are amazing on their own, but these solutions are not constrained by these basic features.

Many examples of integrating mobile wallets with bill payment applications can be found. This is an area that shows a lot of growth. Either deployed by mainstream brands or also by small entrepreneurs, this is an area that requires further investigation.