Curious about mobile payments, but tired of reading the small print? Glenbrook’s Carol Coye Benson has compiled a collection of how-they-work videos. Included are videos from Bling Nation, PayNearMe, Square, BOKU, Intuit GoPayment, PayPal Mobile, VivoTech, Oberthur, MobilePay, MocaPay, and FaceCash.

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PlaySpan has announced the launch of UltimatePay Mobile, a “virtual currency and micropayments monetization widget for leading smartphone platforms.” The initial private beta launch will support HTML5, and is designed to work on all Android* smartphones, as well as Nokia phones with WebRuntime installed.

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Doctor’s Associates, the parent company of SUBWAY, and Think Computer Corporation have announced that FaceCash will now be accepted at certain SUBWAY locations in California. FaceCash is a mobile payment system that allows consumers to use their cell phones to make purchases at the point of sale. “FaceCash gets its name from its unique security process. During a purchase, the consumer’s face appears on the merchant’s register to verify identity.”

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Glenbrook’s Carol Coye Benson will speak October 29th at the UW Law School Conference – “Mobile Payments: Global Markets, Empowered Consumers and New Rules?”. The one-day conference will explore the benefits of mobile payments to consumers – both in developed and developing markets and the types of regulatory approaches that will increase consumer adoption and provide incentives for businesses to compete in this emerging space. Carol’s panel will focus on the question: “What Will it Take to Make Mobile Payments Mainstream in North America?”

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Monitise has announced its enhanced technology platform which “incorporates a range of mobile banking and payment services to deliver fast, secure financial management by mobile phone across the world. The platform enables financial institutions, mobile phone networks, service providers, payment companies and processors to offer a wide variety of Mobile Money services in both developed and emerging markets.” The platform offers the following products: * Monitise Mobile Wallet – setting up a virtual wallet on a mobile handset to enable mobile payments and commerce for people without bank accounts, and managing the associated agent networks * Monitise Mobile Payments and…

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Beijing-based mobile network operator, China mobile is reportedly interested in investing in Africa to boost services in rural areas. Though the company has not specified neither the region, nor its potential acquisition targets on the continent, it has an ambitious goal to “push business for mobile payments” as stated by Jianzhou Wang Chairman of company.

It would be recalled that recently, the operator concluded a deal that enabled it to acquire a 20% stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, a move expected to help boost its wireless payment and finance operations.

According to Dataxis Intelligence, China mobile is the world’s largest mobile operator with its 539 Million subscriber base of which 7.6 million using 3 G services at the end of March 2010.

The market for NFC (Near Field Communication) mobile payments in the U.S. is in the nascent stage with an adoption rate of only 1.7%; this represents a huge opportunity for early movers offering the same. Adopting NFC mobile payment will open new revenue channels for banks as well as mobile operators as more than 94% of the U.S. population owns a mobile phone, and 60% of these have a card slot in their mobile phone. With the help of NFC technology, banks will be able to tap micro transactions made by cash, representing around 20% of the total transactions in the U.S. This will also help banks to capture the growing GEN Y population as well as the huge underbanked and unbanked population.

Mobile commerce (m-commerce) is basically an extension of e-commerce on the mobile phone which enables consumers to make payments for goods and services directly from their mobile phones. This gives the consumer the benefit of making payments from anywhere without the hassle of physically being present at a store, standing in a line or turning on a PC to transact online.

Obopay Introduces New iPhone Application – Now Sending Money and Staying Connected to Family is Easier Than Ever – Obopay announced that its Obopay Mobile Payments application for the iPhone will be available from the Apple App Store beginning today. The free download will enable iPhone users to send money to friends and family more quickly and easier than ever with Obopay’s application.

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Fortumo Mobile Payments Start Covering The Whole East- Service Launched in Russia – Fortumo.com the leading Mobile Payment Provider for SME-s in Eastern Europe and Asia announced today its expansion to Russia. According to the company, Fortumo is planning to cover all the major Ex Soviet Union countries soon. Ukraine and Belarus will be made available shortly after New Years Eve.

“Easter European and Ex Soviet Union countries are still difficult to access for most of the western internet companies “, – says CEO Fortumo Martin Koppel. “Fortumo sees itself as a gateway, which helps those companies monetize their user base in region without risks and costs”, – adds Koppel.

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