Virtual Piggy Brings Mobile Payment Technology to Kids

The early word about the next generation of potential mobile payments users—Generation Z—isn’t exactly filled with good news right now. While there are some bright spots, particularly in Great Britain, there’s an increasing body of evidence suggesting that today’s kids may not want to use mobile payments at all.

That could change with some kid-friendly mobile payment systems, and Virtual Piggy is out to be one of the leaders in this market.

Virtual Piggy, with some backing from Univest Bank & Trust Company, is stepping in to give kids access to a mobile payment platform that operates much like the ones that adults would use, albeit with some key differences.

The app will come with some parental controls built in so that parents can not only directly impact but also monitor spending, and some other necessary controls will be included so as to appease regulators.

The company’s CEO John Coyne commented “This is a significant step for the company as we are planning our beta testing set for April of this year and it is important for us to have the kind of account services that Univest are providing to ensure maximum efficiency and success.”

With around 80 million kids under 17 out there and a share of $830 billion in annual spending at stake, it’s easy to see why the kid market is brisk and mobile payments providers would want a piece of this action.

It’s sort of a tossup as to whether or not this will work; back when I was that age, the idea of pulling out the Virtual Piggy would have been mortifying beyond any good reason, despite the fact that it would demonstrate I had a phone sufficiently powerful to handle such a system.

The younger set may be happy about this, though, but losing the top end of the kid spectrum to what may be the single most childish name for a mobile payment system seen yet could be shooting itself in the foot.

Still, it’s a noteworthy proposition, and in order to make the next generation of mobile payment users ready for the job, they’ll have to start early and learn just how this all works. An introductory system with parent-friendly restraints could be a good way to do that.