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Technology Trends: Peer-To-Peer Mobile Money Transfer
As of last spring, Snapchat, the photo-video-chat service, claimed that 700 million photos and videos were being exchanged via its mobile app each day, with 500 million of its "stories" being shared daily. Although a lot of attention has been paid to the sensationalist mischief young people have gotten into with the app, it is clearly a preferred vehicle for peer-to-peer interaction among its typically young demographic. Additionally, the "my stories" feature has enabled opt-in viewers to keep up with news (however they define that) of the day, or significant cultural events, such as New York's Fashion Week, or New Year's festivities around the globe. Media outlets such as CNN, Comedy Central, Cosmopolitan, and Yahoo News are tapping into this audience with curated content updated with the hyper-attentive in mind.
Last spring, Snapchat launched a service called Snapcash, a way for users to exchange money via debit cards. While viewing photos, videos, stories, or live chats, users can send money to recipients with a mere swipe of the finger, designating exactly how much money will transfer. It can take a few days for recipients to have access to the cash, but the exchange is immediate, as long as both sender and receiver have Visa or Master Card labeled debit cards.
Payments by mobile device are not new, and the many ways people move money from one place to another in exchange for goods or services have provided challenges for consumers eager to abandon physical cash and credit cards. Some services work with incredible ease in very specific settings, such as with the Starbucks mobile app, which creates a digital replica of a gift card that can be scanned at cash registers and can be reloaded right from the app. Apple's new Apple Pay communicates directly with cash registers at participating merchants, sending credit card info in such a way as to minimize sensitive information getting into the wrong hands. Banking apps, such as PayPal's, allow buyers to send money to sellers who also have PayPal accounts. Several services exist which actually read the data off credit cards, turning tablets and smartphones into cash registers.
You can see that each of these types of payments has advantages and disadvantages, and that only the PayPal-type apps allow one person to send money to another for no specific reason. What Snapchat has tapped into that these other services haven't is the ubiquity of a super-popular app that young adults are already using in massive numbers, and it makes use of debit cards, which most young people already have. The ability to send money to a friend for concert tickets, or to chip in for a shared meal without the exchange of cash is powerful, and most young adults already have it in their pockets.
Although recipients of Snapcash are credited immediately, they don't have immediate access to the funds, which is the biggest drawback, as any young person can tell you. It's not every day that one person can cover the dinner check for seven friends and then wait two business days to be effectively paid back. Still, it's a huge step in the direction of a large, powerful, very spendy demographic, one that expects more and more convenience every day.
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