O2 launches mobile wallet

26 Apr 12 - Author Editorial - editorial

The O2 wallet

Last night O2 launched the O2 wallet at the Wayra Academy in London, enabling people to send and receive money, compare prices and shop via their smartphone. The service is available to everyone, not just O2 users, and incorporates the following features:

• Money Message: transfer money to another UK mobile phone number via SMS. Sums of between GBP1 and GBP500 can be transferred daily.
• Shopping via mobile: a mobile barcode and search engine function allow users to scan items in-store and compare prices with around 100 online retailers. The feature also offers daily deals via a ‘My Offers’ icon which include discounts at retailers such as Debenhams, Comet, Sainsbury’s Direct and Tesco Direct.
• Mobile wallet: card data can be digitised and stored in the O2 Wallet to make mobile payments. Funds can be loaded onto the wallet via debit card, Money Message or with cash at around 30,000 locations including O2 stores, PayPoint and epay retail outlets. Users can access a 30 day payment history through the app and text alerts can be set up to notify the user of changes in account balance. The wallet doesn’t yet incorporate NFC technology but this is to be added in due course.
• O2 Money Account Card: a physical and virtual O2 Money Account Card is provided on a Visa prepaid account. The virtual card can be used for online shopping whilst the contactless physical card can be used on the high street and at ATMs.

The O2 Wallet is compatible with smartphones and the iPad, non-smartphones with web browsers can also take advantage of certain features such as Money Messages. According to O2, the amount of people using mobile banking rose from 9.7% in 2010 to 20.4% in 2011, and mobile shopping is expected to increase by 53%over the next twelve months to hit GBP4.5 billion, making the Brits the biggest mobile shoppers in Europe.