Pay By App

Does "pay by app" spells the end to shopping queues?

21:05 04 April 2016

With the introduction of contactless payments or “pay by app”, standing in long queues or waiting for ages for your restaurant bill to arrive could be a thing in the past.

 

Dave Birch, a payments expert at Consult Hyperion, said: "Payments are vanishing inside apps. That's where all the interesting stuff is going on."

 

Some of the first to join the bandwagon are Starbucks and Hailo allowing customers to pay for products and services via apps linked to bank services. MasterCard’s QKR! app is also on board, enabling customers to settle the food and drinks bill without the need to bother staff.

 

Apple, Google and Samsung are also now offering in-app payments via their own apps.

 

Smartphones taking on the functionality of our wallet has long been the dream of smartphone makers. This functionality has been gaining momentum and in 2015, contactless payments topped the one billion mark. Experts are forecasting that the industry will enjoy steady growth over the next four years.

 

However, despite the convenience that mobile payment apps offers, there’s an issue with security.

 

"Mobile apps are miniature web apps, so there are many vulnerabilities associated with those," says Tom Kellermann, chief executive of security investment fund Strategic Cyber Ventures.