CommBank makes mobiles more mindful of money

Last year, the Commonwealth Bank struck an Aussie first with a credit card solution for the iPhone. Now, they’re at it again, making it possible for anyone with an account and either an Android or Apple smartphone to make use of mobile payments.

This week’s announcement brings last year’s “Kaching” technology to 13 Android devices, making it possible for more smartphones to make payments using only the phone number or email address.

Android users won’t see the Near-Field Communication technology used in their implementation, with only a few phones supporting it and no external cases made, like in the case with the iPhone version released last year. Once more phones support the technology, CommBank may even roll out that technology, as well as a new one called “Bump”.

Bump is being made available to iPhone users this week through the iOS Kaching app, though, making it possible for two phones to transfer money to and from each other by just tapping the two handsets together.

 

Kaching is now available for both Android (left) and iPhone (right).

It’s not just mobile users grabbing access to the CommBank’s new platform, with a Facebook app being unveiled, making it possible for anyone who uses one of the largest social networking platforms to send money to friends, family, and businesses.

“The power of Facebook for payments is only now becoming clear,” said David Lindberg, the Executive General Manager for Cards, Payments, and Retail Strategy at the Commonwealth Bank.

“It will change banking for consumers and for small business, providing hundreds of thousands of merchants in Australia with full payments systems access. No matter how sophisticated a business’ online presence is, they will now have access to a state of the art payments capability, making a level playing field for all.”