Not to be outdone by the abundance of banking and retail payment apps launched in recent months, PayPal’s new app will enable shoppers to use their mobile phone to pay for purchases with four leading retailers – Oasis, Karen Millen, Coast and Warehouse.
In a marked move away from the micro-payments historically associated with the virtual wallet, users will be able to pay for goods and receive refunds even when there isn’t a mobile or WiFi signal.
Although there has been some negativity in the press regarding PayPal’s lengthy sign in process, there are already 14m users in the UK and over 140 million worldwide and the use of a barcode accompanied with pin code access should help to alleviate concerns over mobile security.
The good news for companies with employees who are using the app is that unlike some other mobile payment solutions the charge isn’t added to the mobile phone bill (although the cost of making the transaction will need to be paid for), but it does highlight, yet again, that the mobile continues to evolve far beyond its origins of a portable calling device.
Furthermore the fact that the company mobile also offers its user the ability to download data, take pictures, interact through social media, listen to music and make purchases; this raises a key question for organisations:
‘Do you have a mobile phone usage policy in place?’
Whether you decide to pick up the cost for all of your employees non-business related transactions or allocate them back to the individual, you need a process in place to identify these costs for accounting purposes and our work with clients across all sectors in the UK highlights that this is becoming even more complex than ever.
The constantly changing company mobile bill; how do you manage it?
