Facebook Launches Free Payments Service In Messenger App

Facebook is now a mobile payment company. The social network announces its free payment service coming to United States.

• Facebook announces mobile payment service bundled with its messenger platform.
• Users in United States can send or receive money, but with debit cards only.
• Facebook said per transaction is free of charge.

We all know it’s coming. Facebook, the largest social network from Menlo Park, California, is now a slim mobile payment service. So what’s next? A payment platform you can use to pay for items listed on the main news feed?

Registered users of the social network with an Android smartphone, or an iPhone, and Facebook Messenger app installed, can soon send and receive money, for free. The Facebook Messenger on desktop web browser is also supported.

In a new press release, Facebook announces “payments in messenger,” a feature coming to United States market over the coming months. The main purpose of the service is to allow sending and receiving cash payments from one Facebook member to another, for as long as the two are connected, or linked as friends.

The social network’s payment solution is tied up with its own secure credit card, debit card and PayPal payment service. Although for this service, Facebook said users are allowed to transact using Visa and MasterCard debit cards only. In addition, the California-based firm said they will only accept cards issued by United States banks.

Facebook said the payment service is secure, and supports additional layers to protect users from theft like personal PIN support, and integration with Touch ID for iPhone users.

Facebook’s messenger payment service is similar to Square and Snapchat’s recently launched feature called Snapcash.

With the same goal of providing “quick cash”transactions with friends, adding a mobile payment service will give these companies the best chance to attract more users with credit and debit cards, or convince them to save their cards onto their platforms. In return, Facebook, and even Snapchat can launch their very own internet-based shops a la Amazon, or Apple’s iTunes, or Google’s Play Store.

It is still too early to predict whether Facebook can convince its United States-based users to save their cards on the platform, or use its service to send money to friends. But putting a “free” tag on it is a way to catch some attention. Ξ

Credits: Featured image, and video of the Facebook Messenger payment service are courtesy of Facebook’s media services.

Source: http://stgist.com/2015/03/facebook-mobile-payment-service-us-debit-cards-with-video-1955

Apple TV Box With Siri And 25-Ish Channels Service Coming, Report Claims

Can Apple create a Chromecast and a Netflix in one strategy? Reports this week about the future of Apple’s television strategy emerge from the grave — with news about Siri, App Store and cord-cutter service coming to Apple set-top box.

• Reports online said Apple will bring a new set-top box.
• Apple dead serious about making a better TV strategy, analysts say.

Cupertino, California-based tech firm Apple is bringing a new version of its set-top streaming box later this year, according to a new report from BuzzFeed News.

Citing people familiar with the project, the site claims that the new iteration of Apple’s TV device will introduce support for App Store, with SDK or software developer kit launch to accommodate software developers who are interested in launching services with Apple’s TV platform. In addition, the report revealed that Apple is looking to add its personal assistant platform to the TV — Siri.

All these updates are reportedly hitting the stage of this year’s World Wide Developer Conference.

This new report syncs perfectly with the Wall Street Journal articleabout Apple’s planned launch of 25-ish web TV service. This cord-cutter offer is reportedly planning to include content from Fox, Disney, CBS, plus 10 to 15 more TV content sources. For this product, sources said the maker of the iPhone was targeting the price range of $30 to $40 a month.

More than eight years ago, Apple introduced its first TV set-top box with the purpose of bridging the gap between Apple’s wireless products and TV sets. Later updates have added small features, but with major focus on streaming content from iTunes.

More than five years later, Apple TV is still the “boring” Apple TV. Who needs a set-top box if you have a smart TV? Or an iPhone with cord that can connect to the TV?

But “getting serious” about TV is the main theme of this week’s Apple reports — although some reporters have failed to underscore the differences between competing with Roku and Google’s Chromecast, and challenging Netflix.

Since the announcement of Apple’s HBO partnership, the tech news feed has been very busy with detailed analysis and predictions about the future of Apple’s streaming business — and it is a “no shocker” because Netflix, Amazon and others are making progress with their content distribution, especially Netflix. It makes sense that Apple wants to join this space too, because it is lucrative.

But don’t expect Apple producing its own shows like “House Of Cards”, etc, although, it can partner with big content creators like Marvel or Disney and come up with content exclusively for its ecosystem. Keep in mind, in the world of streaming and on-demand video services, content is king.

In a nutshell, Apple can easily compete with Google’s inexpensive Chromecast, but it will take a lot of marketing to rival Netflix and Hulu.

The firm with mountain of cash in the bank needs a device on a lower price point that it can use to shovel in new revenue stream coming from customers who will purchase content on iTunes, and eventually on the reported Apple TV content streaming service. With more people with access to this so-called “Apple TV streaming,” then Apple can generate bigger revenue from subscription, and maybe, a new Apple TV box with reasonable price is the solution. Ξ

Image courtesy of Apple Inc./Apple.com

Source: http://stgist.com/2015/03/apple-tv-set-top-box-syncs-with-streaming-service-reports-2124

T-Mobile Offers Unlimited 4G LTE Data Upgrade For ‘Select’ Customers

T-Mobile has a new trick up its sleeve that may be a precursor to its Uncarrier 9.0 event that is scheduled for March 18 in good ‘ol New York City. According to a limited number of customers that have received a text from T-Mobile, some of their phone lines are getting a complimentary upgrade to unlimited 4G LTE data (for a limited time).

The text that customers received directs customers to a T-Mobile promotions pages that states:

To thank you for being a loyal customer, some lines on your account are being upgraded to Unlimited 4G LTE data, starting April 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015—at no extra cost and with no action required! Surf, shop, and stream with no limits on our nationwide 4G LTE network.

With this upgrade, starter stash and Data Stash will go away because with Unlimited high speed data there’s no need to roll your data forward. To keep your current plans, text "STASH" to 1508 by 3/17.

As you can see in the text above, recently introduced features like Starter Stash and Data Stash have been nixed. After all, who needs a rainy day fund for data when you have an unlimited swimming pool to dive into? If you’re a T-Mobile customer and haven’t already received the text, then we’re sorry; you’re simply out of luck.

Of course, there are some restrictions that you should know about before hopping on this promotional offer. Your existing data allowance for device tethering carries over and you will lose access to Rhapsody unRadio. In addition, once the promotional period ends on December 31, you will reverted back to your old plan.

Source: http://hothardware.com/News/t-mobile-offers-unlimited-4g-lte-data-upgrade-for-select-customers?google_editors_picks=true#dmqDjW6T14sFUBMz.99

Why Did Apple Make The Apple Watch? — ‘The Why’

For those of you who are not hardcore tech geeks, Apple held an event in San Francisco, California on March 9 to introduce their newest product the Apple Watch. Key details were provided about the Apple Watch.

According to Kyle VanHemert, a contributor to Wired, Apple announced “how much it will cost, and when we’ll be able to buy it. Tim Cook and associates showed off a grab bag of features.” He agrees, however, that no one from Apple provided “any overarching sense of why this thing exists” other than to make money of course.

Other than the obvious “making money” angle, VanHemert confirms our suspicions that Apple does not have to tell us why y made the Apple Watch. Of course, if the folks at Apple don’t themselves know why they made the Apple Watch he says “that’s troubling.”

VanHemert recalls Steve Jobs unveiling the iPad at the start of 2010. Jobs spoke on the specific position of the iPad “in relation to the devices we already owned.”

Jobs stated: “All of us use laptops and smart phones now. Is there room for a third category of device in the middle? In order to really create a new category of devices, those devices are going to have to be far better at doing some key tasks. If there’s gonna be a third category of device, it’s gonna have to be better at these kinds of tasks than a laptop or a smartphone. Otherwise it has no reason for being.”

Why is there an Apple Watch?/Image: STEM

Hence today’s question. “That’s the missing piece,” VanHemert agrees. He adds: “What is the Apple Watch’s reason for being? What are the things it’s better at than a smartphone? “

In simpler terms, why did Apple make the Apple Watch? Apple originally focused on three things: Timekeeping, fitness and communication.   When VanHemert studied these three angles he was not convinced the final version of the Apple Watch was not all that great for any of those things.

Apple is attempting to put a second device on the customer’s body but without telling us why they made it and what it does that the smart phone cannot do.  It often would make sense to be able to quickly check your watch and read a message as opposed to digging out your smart phone.

This could help folks get away from their screens for a little bit. Still, Apple hasn’t said anything about that. VanHemert agrees that Apple could have said: (The Apple Watch is) a device that will let you spend less time looking blearily at a screen and more time looking at trees or books or the people sitting across the dinner table from you.”

So why did Apple make the Apple Watch? Wired states that “all we know now is that the Apple Watch will bring a bunch of new experiences.”

Why did Apple make the Apple Watch? Now you know.

Source: http://americanlivewire.com/2015-03-12-why-did-apple-make-the-apple-watch-the-why/