Dive Brief:
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A new mobile payment startup called Circle Plus Payments aims to disrupt mobile payments just as the method is supposedly ready to take off.
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While many say that Apple Pay will help usher in a new era of mobile payment acceptance by consumers and retailers, Circle Plus Payments provides a simpler technology that could appeal to smaller retailers and, the company says, even some larger ones.
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The payments app allows anyone to accept any credit or debit card from any bank in the world, without additional hardware, founder-CEO Nitish Kannan told Retail Dive.
Dive Insight:
Despite the buzz about Apple Pay, which essentially leverages credit cards stored in users’ iTunes accounts, any widespread consumer adoption of mobile payments is likely to be “an evolution, not a revolution,” Denee Carrington, an analyst with research house Forrester Research who tracks the digital payments market, told Wired magazine.
There’s ample room, then, for innovation like that from Circle Plus Payments. The company, for example, could grab a significant hold if retailers like the idea that there’s no need for additional hardware. And, of course, if its security claims — like those of everyone offering mobile payments — are as solid as it promises. Concern about security is a large reason that consumers have shied away from using mobile payments.