Verizon adds shopping by phone
updated 01:05 pm EDT, Wed June 20, 2007
Verizon Adds Obopay
Verizon today revealed that it has struck a deal with Obopay to offer wireless payment through cellphones. The deal lets subscribers with supporting handsets buy items from many stores without having to carry a physical credit card. The service also acts as a virtual MasterCard account and allows fellow Obopay members to exchange money anywhere they can make a connection, Verizon says. As a backup measure, Verizon will also supply a conventional card that can send or receive money from Obopay through an ATM and other locations that might not accept wireless purchases as an option.
Costs for joining Obopay through Verizon have yet to be announced, but the provider adds that device support will be fairly broad: any phone which supports the largely universal BREW standard can download and install a mobile client that keeps track of an account. It should also become part of the company's Mobile Web 2.0 service and should expand to include non-BREW devices in the future.
Verizon becomes only the major second carrier in the US to rely on Obopay's services, following virtual network Helio's adoption late last year.
