#mobileremitter

“Apple is preparing to announce details about enhancements to Apple Pay at its software conference next month. Those include a rewards program for the mobile wallet service, said two people briefed on the product.”

http://9to5mac.com/2015/05/27/apple-pay-rewards/

“Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s hands-free payment service is still in the works and the company disclosed that it will carry out more tests at various McDonald’s and Papa John’s Int’l, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) stores this year.”

Lower transaction costs.  The obvious and short-term benefit to using Bitcoin as compared with other clearinghouses like credit card companies, PayPal, and Western Union WU -1.46%, are the lowered transaction costs, averaging in at 1%, as compared with the aforementioned at 2-4%. “With Bitcoin we can take temporary deposits and refund the amount without incurring charges” says Alex Shapiro, founder of AmuseMi.com.The implications of the low cost transaction are wide ranging from micro-payments to peer-to-peer to international to the “unbanked’s” transactions.

Micro-transactions: Companies like PayPal implement a $.30 flat fee plus a percentage of the transaction as their fee.  With a strictly variable pricing model, Bitcoin could open the door for the micro-transaction ecosystem to finally be economically viable.

Peer to Peer Transactions:  The barrier to entry to create your own small business has come down and more small businesses are opening up benefiting companies like Square, and other SMB enablers. With Bitcoin, peer-to-peer transactions become even simpler.

International Transactions:  International transactions have always been extremely challenging.  Fees on both ends with foreign exchange risk in the middle, usually whittles away any profits. Similarly, sending money via wire or Western Union is also expensive. Dominic Paolilloof Brown Harris Stevens mentions how certain international real estate transactions, like condominiums, would be simplified with Bitcoin and could be advantageous especially in markets like New York where “all cash” is always a possibility no matter what the number is.

“Unbanked” Transactions: Without a need for infrastructure, Bitcoin can be an alternative for the unbanked community either domestic or abroad.  Fees for check cashing can be upwards of 2%, double the rate of a standard Bitcoin transaction.

As more Bitcoin services rise, friction in the marketplace will decrease in both settlement times, currently about ten minutes, as well as in transacting.

“We have legacy payment systems which are inherently tied within each country. Marc Andreessen of Netscape fame and of recent Horowitz fame has a saying that he oftentimes employs, "Software eats blank. Technology eats blank." You can see what's happened to the newspaper industry. You can see what's happened to the music industry or what's currently happening to the television industry. If you think about fiat currencies and you think about legacy payment systems, I think you can see the opportunity for emerging payment systems and virtual currencies”

FCC commented that mobile payments through mobile operators should be mandated by law or regulations so that customers have protections, these include:

1) Customers should have ability to block third party charges.

2) Operators should clearly detail which third party charges may apply.

3) Operators should establish processes for charge dispute.

4)Notify of reoccurring charges.

5)Require third parties to maintain records of charges in case of dispute.

6)Standardize procedures to be in line with credit and debit payments.

7)Mobile operators should allow delay of payments for good faith charge disputes.

8) Maintain procedures to prevent bill cramming.

9) Create systems for detecting fraudulent activity.