Mobile money roundup: mobile payments and banking galore

There are more mobile money stories today than I can reasonably do separate articles for. So here’s the mobile money roundup! Stories from all round the world, collected for your convenience.

US mobile payment company Zong teams with mobile gamer Outspark

Via The Paypers

Zong is a mobile payment company that works via operator billing. If a mobile owner buys a product through Zong, the price is added to their mobile bill at the end of the month. The operator passes that money along to Zong, who uses it to pay the merchant. Outspark is a mobile games community that combines gaming with social networking. The new deal will help monetise Outsparks free games offering - community members can buy “SparkCash”, a virtual currency, through Zong. SparkCash is used to buy items within the Outspark games.

Zong claims that its platform is currently connected with 67 mobile operators in 13 countries.

Two United Arab Emirates giants join forces for mobile banking - Emirates NBD and Etisalat

Emirates NBD is the largest bank by assets in the Middle East. Etisalat is the major mobile operator in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with operations in 17 countries. Together, they are launching a mobile banking service based on USSD. USSD is similar to regular old text messaging SMS technology, except that it cannot be saved or stored anywhere. The service is entirely “session” based - no private information can be archived. Using this text-based service, customers will be able to access balance inquiries, transfer funds, pay credit card bills and make bill payments. Like SMS, any mobile device in the world can use it.

Via Business Intelligence Middle East

From the release:

Mohamed Al Falasi, SVP / Head of Direct Sales and Alternate Channels said, “Emirates NBD is the first bank to sign a mobile banking service agreement with Etisalat in the UAE. With this new technology, we are offering our customers the latest payment methods and adding yet another advanced, creative and convenient service to our network of diverse banking channels.”

Abdulla Hashim, VP, Business Solutions, Etisalat, “We are very happy to sign this agreement with Emirates NBD to launch this innovative mobile banking service considering Emirates NBD’s pioneering status in adopting the latest technology to benefit its customers. Etisalat‘s considerable expertise and knowledge in mobile payments will be a great asset for Emirates NBD in rolling out a comprehensive and convenient solution for its customers.”

Azerbaijan mobile operator launches mobile credit card service with GoldenPay

Azerfon is a government-created agency in Azerbaijan, tasked with spreading mobile services to the country. Nar Mobile is the result. A mobile services company, Nar Mobile has announced that it will be creating a mobile banking service. Another Azerbaijan company called GoldenPay will be providing the infrastructure for the service. It will allow users to pay for good over the mobile web using their credit cards.

The service works with various Visa and MasterCard credit cards, and users can top up their Nar Mobile account via the www.NarMobile.az site.

CHARGE Anywhere Introduces Mobile Payment Solutions for the Palm Pre

CHARGE Anywhere has released a merchant-oriented mobile payment service for Palm Pre. The CHARGE Anywhere application allows merchants to accept mobile credit card payments and email receipts directly to customers.

CHARGE Anywhere has been about since 2004, specialising in secure mobile payment software. It already has BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and J2ME apps, and a “Mobile Web Payment Solution” for the iPhone.

Via More RFID