Rhombus’ Mobile Payments System Hits the US

With a host of mobile payments systems landing for users to get hands on, and a major sea change in the credit and debit card arena about to take hold, the arrival of one more payment system to consider might leave some a bit concerned that there’s just too much going on.

Rhombus, however, isn’t taking “glutted market” for an answer and is instead targeting consumers with something of a new idea in mobile payments.

While many mobile payment systems operate almost like a credit or debit card might, but instead being built directly into a phone or mobile device, Rhombus is something of a different proposition.

Rhombus allows users to send payments to most anywhere from a mobile device by sending a text message to a Rhombus number. Everything from “$30 donation to American Kennel Club” to “$15 for two subs at Quiznos” is apparently fair game here, with the minimum payment being $5 and the maximum being a whopping $15,000.

Following the text will be a confirmation text, and an electronic receipt will be routed to email.

The system reportedly works by the user connecting a debit or credit card, or a full bank account, to Rhombus and then letting Rhombus do the rest. Rhombus charges 2.9 percent of the transaction plus an additional $0.30 per transaction, which covers the cost of the messaging fees.

The company uses Stripe technology to store payment information on a token system, which means no payment information is ever kept by the Rhombus servers to improve security. Just to top it off, the service will be coming to countries outside of the United States in that always-popular “soon” time frame.

Admittedly, this is one of the more unusual concepts in mobile payments, and one that’s not without a certain amount of charm to it. Sending text messages is common and easy. Better yet, since it depends not on near field communications (NFC) readers or anything else to work, it can be put to use more readily without needing some major infrastructure modifications first. That’s good news for anyone who wants to accept the Rhombus system and thus get access to a potential market.

The real question here is, though, will anyone take Rhombus up on its concept? It’s entirely possible, of course, that people will enjoy the option to pay for things as easily as filing a text message. It’s likewise possible that there will be a clear lack of feeling secure involved with such a move, though, and that could be a real problem. Still, one way or another, it’s only a matter of time before we see how this works out, and Rhombus might well prove more than a niche player in the end.