Paper money’s days are numbered. Paying for our purchases with our mobile is becoming more and more common. The banks have been adapting the POS of the shops at the time that the cards were generalized contactless that practically all entities offer today.
it is being very fast. If a couple of years ago paying with your mobile was practically impossible, today almost all banks offer this function through their apps. Since each bank has its own, we are not going to analyze them here, but we will focus on mobile payment systems designed (in theory) to be used with multiple banking entities. I say “in theory” because we will see that, in practice, this is not the case in all cases.
Most of the apps to pay with the mobile are based on the one that practically all mid-range and high-end smartphones already incorporate.
Applications to pay with the mobile in Spain
ApplePay
It arrived at , but, for the time being, only for Banco Santander customers. Since it is not very explainable that Apple marginalizes the clients of other big banks, it seems that this agreement to offer it exclusively is similar to the agreements that Apple signs with the telecommunications operators when launching a new smartphone. That is surely it will be a temporary exclusivity.
Twyp
Although it is an application from a bank (ING Direct), we include it here because it can be used by clients of any bank. It is not an application to pay at POS terminals, but to send small amounts of money to other people via mobile.
It is promoted as the app for “payments between friends”: pay for a taxi or a half-priced dinner, participate in the purchase of a gift… Not to be confused with Twyp Cash, a function to withdraw money in cash at stores that are part of the system that is exclusive to ING customers, with which they make up for the lack of their own ATMs where money can be withdrawn without paying commissions.
Bizum
Although it seems strange, banks are able to agree. is an example of it. It’s obviously a response to Twyp, and Almost 30 banking entities have participated in its development, including all the big ones: La Caixa, Santander, BBVA, Sabadell, Bankia…
Bizum currently works as a payment app between individuals in the style of Twypbut on their website they announce that it will soon be able to be used to pay with mobile phones in shops and also for online payments,
SamsungPay
The app to pay with the mobile from devices is available in Spain in 4 banks at the moment: CaixaBank, ImaginBank (La Caixa’s mobile bank), Abanca and Sabadell. As distinguishing features, Samsung Pay allows you to authorize payment with the fingerprint readerpay even if you don’t have coverage and store your loyalty card numbers.
Vodafone Wallet
In this case, it is a telecommunications operator and not a mobile manufacturer that offers its customers an app to pay with their mobile. allows you to add any Visa or MasterCard bank card, in addition to being able to use your PayPal account.
It has discount agreements when used with many banks and, like Samsung Pay, allows you to pay without coverage, as well as setting spending limits and numerous security options. The only drawback that we see is that it is only available for Android devices.
OrangeCash
It has also joined the wave of mobile payment applications. It works in a similar way to Vodafone Wallet, but only with Visa cardsand like the previous one, it is only available for Android devices.
Android Pay and PayPal: we are still waiting.
Android also has a mobile payment system, which is currently not available in Spain, although it seems that 2017 could be the year of its premiere in our country. Something similar happens with PayPal, which at the moment It does not have a date for its premiere in Spain, but both one and the other will reach a market in full swing.
The question is: is there enough market for so many competitors? Does it make sense for banks to compete with each other through two or more different apps, in addition to their own?
As happened in its day with ATMs or types of credit cards, the market will sift through and gradually group together the different apps to pay with your mobile. It remains to be seen if the balance will tip on the side of the banks, the manufacturers or the operators, but in any case, go saying goodbye to bills and coins, Because they don’t have many years left to live.
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