New mobile payment tool Waspit, which launches today, is aiming to make mobile payments for tangible goods, digital content and online services easy from any mobile phone – smart or otherwise – as the company pushes to open up m-commerce to everyone with a phone.
Recent research by Generator Research suggests that the number of people using their mobile phones to make payments will increase 600% to 490 million by 2014, and the market will grow to US$633.4 billion during the same period.
Waspit CEO Richard Steggall says: “as the mobile apps market increases in size and businesses embrace m-commerce as a tool rather than as a fad, the need for an all encompassing mobile payment solution will be evermore present. We have seen a number of entrants come into the market over recent years such as Verrus who do the pay-by-phone parking for the City of Westminster. Whilst they provide a great solution, these sort of services appear solution specific rather than an all encompassing user solution. To me these services are like a store card whilst Waspit is like a credit card which could be used anywhere.”
According to the Waspit website, its service allows a user to pay almost anything they want using their mobile phone. Waspit claims its service can be used to send and receive money between friends and family; to buy and sell things online and through online auction sites; and even to pay for parking, train tickets, or online and mobile gaming.
When asked how Waspit works, Steggall says: “It’s very simple, and anyone can do it just by sending a text. Unlike with PayPal, you don’t need an iPhone and you don’t need to download any app. Waspit will work from any phone and on any network. All you need to do first is link a debit or credit card to your mobile number through a simple registration process. You can even credit your account by sending money from your PayPal account or by getting another Waspit user to transfer some money to your account.”
The system is totally secure, being PCI DSS compliant. “This means we follow the same strict regulations your highstreet bank would,” says Steggall. “Waspit was developed with the tech savvy and early adopters in mind. It’s these people who continuously shape and reshape technology eco-systems like this. We feel that our service is the simple, secure and fun way to pay for things on the run. We don’t see it as replacing other payment methods, but rather an alternative method business can adopt so that they can better serve the emerging generations.”
