Barclays Contactless Mobile Takes Mobile Payment Fight to Android Pay

May 19, 2024 by
Barclays Contactless Mobile Takes Mobile Payment Fight to Android Pay

While Android Pay hasn’t yet started in the U.K., at last report, that’s not stopping several other mobile payments alternatives from stepping in to fill the perceived gap.

Barclays recently decided to take this particular market bull by the horns and start its own mobile payments system, Barclays Contactless Mobile.

It’s similar in nature to Android Pay, reports note, as users will take the debit and credit cards already taken out on the bank and register said cards with an Android app.

Users can then take the phones as a proxy of sorts, and then use the phone as a payment measure, which routes payment through the relevant card, as long as that phone is near-field communications (NFC) enabled.

Roughly 400,000 locations throughout the U.K., including the transportation systems in London, will accept Barclays Contactless Mobile, so there should be no shortage of takers.

Barclays has previously been seen fighting mobile wallet systems, though it brought in Apple Pay after intense customer outcry.

This might well have been why Barclays was dragging its feet, as it was working on its own development in the field.

This doesn’t look like a great idea for the company, however; it’s stepping into a market with brisk demand, yes, but it’s also stepping into a market with a lot of competition.

There are no shortage of firms eager for a slice of that market, and while Barclays will certainly be going in with name recognition and a perception of safety on its side—if someone does break in and start misappropriating data it’s hard to imagine Barclays wouldn’t make good on losses—it’s also going in with disadvantages.

Specifically, it’s got to beat inertia in a market with a lot of mobile payments options and using a name that has all the appeal of a 1840s patent medicine.

“Barclay’s Contactless Mobile” ranks right up there with “Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir.” I look for Sacha Baron Cohen to come out and start singing about it.

Still, there’s likely room for more here, and if Barclays can leverage its name and perception to its advantage, it may be able to take at least the more security-conscious part of the market.

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