Hasta La Gadget!

Sony Network Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment are teaming up with payments processor Boku to support carrier billing in the United Kingdom. The new feature, which is reportedly compatible with all UK-based carriers, will enable consumers to top up their account wallets by charging the addition directly to cellular accounts. You’ll be able to add funds through Sony’s account management website and the PlayStation Store on PS3 by choosing “mobile” as the payment option, typing in your phone number and authorizing the transaction by responding to an SMS. You’ll be on your way to charging games, themes, Music Unlimited subscriptions, video content and add-ons in no time.

Filed under: Wireless, Internet, Mobile, Sony

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Sending money with Google Wallet wasn’t a tremendously difficult affair before today, but Mountain View’s now discovered a clever new way to part you from your cash. “Over the coming months,” the company will roll out a new payments feature within Gmail, letting you attach money just as you would an image or document. After clicking the new “$” symbol within the composer, you’ll type in an amount and select the source of your funds. Then hit Attach, click send, and say goodbye to your Greenbacks. It’s that simple. You can probably get a solid feel for how this works just from looking at the image above, but given the onslaught of announcements today, we’ll forgive you for needing a more comprehensive explanation. Goog’s got your back, too — there’s a demo video waiting just past the break.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Google

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Source: Gmail Blog

Yesterday, Groupon POS appeared in the iTunes Store, but was quickly pulled. Now we know why. Breadcrumb POS, which is the official name of yesterday’s leaked point-of-sale iPad app, is now officially available, bringing a simple interface and a handful of financial incentives. The application, which can be downloaded for free, charges vendors a credit card processing fee of 1.8 percent plus 15 cents per transaction, assuming you’re swiping plastic from MasterCard, Visa or Discover. In an effort to get small businesses signed up, however, Groupon is offering to cover the fees on the first $5,000 in credit card transactions, a savings of $90 by our calculations, plus whatever you’d be paying per swipe.

The app enables you to log transactions, manage menu items and issue refunds, in addition to processing credit cards and emailing receipts. The POS uses Breadcrumb Payments for processing, with deposits posting within 24 hours, and can be paired with a card swiper and optional printer (you can email receipts if you’d prefer). There’s also free 24/7 telephone support, should you run into any issues while using the system. Breadcrumb POS won’t replace the more sophisticated Pro version, which is available starting at $99 per month, and retailers will still be able to use the Groupon Merchants App for redeeming vouchers and processing supplemental payments. If the new Breadcrumb POS sounds like a fit, snag some more info at the source link below.

Filed under: Software

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Source: Groupon

When Microsoft and Nokia married at the temple of Windows Phone last year, the dowry was nothing if not complicated. Nokia had to pay a minimum amount in software royalties to Microsoft each quarter, regardless of how many Lumia smartphones it sold, but the financial hit was more than cancelled out by Microsoft’s “platform support payments” coming back the other way. At some point, however, the net flow of cash was always bound to switch direction, as the cost of the software royalties grew to exceed Redmond’s $250 million quarterly support payments, effectively bringing the whole thing closer to being a zero-sum transaction. According to Nokia’s latest financial report, that turning point has now been reached and the company’s accountants will have to start writing a minus where there used to be a plus. The extra expense makes it doubly fortunate that Nokia has just returned to profitability — at least if future quarters prove it really has.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft, Nokia

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Via: AllThingsD

Source: Nokia

It was just this spring that Square had reached a grandiose $5 billion per year payment rate and cemented its position at the top of the mobile payment processing field it practically started. Any attempts to catch up just got a lot harder now that the startup has crossed the $10 billion mark, only half a year later. A fifth of that new rate came in the past two months and hints that the company isn’t about to slow down anytime soon. The increase doesn’t have any clear driver, apart from wider media exposure, but founder Jack Dorsey notes that this doesn’t include the Starbucks deal that took effect just days ago. We know the rocket-like pace won’t last forever; all the same, the record-high levels of business undoubtedly give Square a lot of competitive padding when a deluge of recently established alternatives are still getting started.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet

Square reaches $10 billion in payments per year, stays ahead of a growing pack originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Nov 2012 19:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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