Move over Samsung and Apple, Facebook has mobile payment news too. Leaked photos seemingly point toward money transfers via Facebook Messenger. It is expected to allow Facebook Messenger to compete with the likes of Paypal, Square Cash, and other peer to peer money transfer apps.
In the version Stanford computer science student Andrew Aude used, there was the ability to use a preexisting card from what may have been added as a part of in-app purchasing the games and such on Facebook are known for. Aude was also able to see the ability to add a debit card as a method of payment.
The video shows the sending of money done much the same way you would send a photo to a friend via a private message. The transactions are private, and nothing will hit your news feed. As of right now it would appear only to be person to person, but eventually we may see group
It is unknown if Facebook will apply a charge to the transaction, but based on an estimate by Aude it may cost Facebook between $0.40 and $0.50 per transaction making a $1 fee from Facebook make sense. This brings up the question of how much such a development will impact Facebook’s financial outlook. CEO Mark Zuckerberg cautions Wall Street and investors on Facebook rushing to release the feature. “There is so much groundwork for us to do”, the CEO was quoted as saying during a Q2 earnings call.
The other combatants such as Apple iMessage, Tencent’s WeChat, Line, KakaoTalk, Google Hangouts, Kik, Rakuten’s Viber, and others, are attempting to differentiate themselves with stickers, gaming, commerce or social networking. If payments through messenger takes off, the war may just well be over.
