ING Direct Debuts P2P Smartphone “Bumping”
Waiting for near-field communication technology to take off could be like Waiting for Godot, given the amount of players thirsting for the to-be-born revenue source and needing to come to agreements with one another before liftoff. But that doesn’t mean innovation has to be stalled out on the sidelines.
Today, ING Direct announced it’s speeding up the make-things-happen wait by debuting Bump Person2Person Payment technology. The new P2P capability allows the direct bank’s Electric Orange checking account customers with iPhones to send money to one another’s checking accounts simply by bumping two iPhones together. Though the capability has limited utility for now, the debut is — well — cool and needed.
The drive for strengthening the direct bank’s P2P features is evident in the customers’ payment preference. Indeed, only 7% of ING Direct’s electric orange checking customers say they pay primarily with cash, according to the release.
Other players are well-versed in the revenue potential of a cashless society, too. Giving PayPal a run for its money, a number of financial services companies have their eyes on smartphones and P2P features as the primary visions of the future of money. The outcome? There should be several winners in the payment battle. Though the winners are unknown yet, for now, ING has brought some P2P innovative flair to the market and that deserves props.
ING Direct has nearly $91.3 billion in assets.
