The past week BlackBerry rolled out an exciting update to their renowned messaging app BBM (BlackBerry Messenger). This update adds PayPal integration which allows BBM users to seamless send money to each other within the app. The integration can help in many different facets of our lifestyle, and I will be waiting to see if they do anything else with this new feature. The update will start its roll out in Canada, and a few select countries in Europe. With the United States and more countries being added along the way.
Last week, a new BBM update became available for BlackBerry, iOS and Android smartphones. With the new BBM update BBM and PayPal are integrating peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfers within BBM™. P2P money transfers will initially be available in Canada with additional European countries and the United States launching in the coming weeks.
Gartner forecasts that the worldwide mobile payment market will have over 450 million users and a transaction value of more than $721 billion in 20171. A fast growing area of mobile payments is P2P money transfers, which Gartner forecasts to account for almost 69 percent of the total mobile payment transaction value in 20172. Traditional money transfers are slow and cumbersome, and it is often difficult to connect the sender and receiver. Assurance that the money had been received is also an issue. BlackBerry is addressing these challenges by integrating P2P money transfers within BlackBerry’s popular BBM app. This will provide users on iOS, Android™ and BlackBerry® smartphones an easy and convenient way to send money directly within a BBM chat, without the need to share account numbers or sensitive financial information. Confirmation of the transaction will be communicated in real-time within BBM.
“We are committed to offering new value added services and our collaboration with PayPal gives customers new ways to pay and send money securely from just about wherever they are,” said Matthew Talbot, SVP Emerging Solutions, BlackBerry. “Enabling PayPal P2P money transfers from within BBM shows how we’re continuing to evolve BBM from the best real-time chat app to a true social engagement and e-commerce platform.”
By integrating PayPal P2P money transfer in BBM, users will be able to send money from their PayPal account to other BBM users’ PayPal accounts3. Users will initiate the money transfer directly within a BBM chat, by clicking on the ‘attach’ icon and selecting PayPal. They will be prompted to connect their PayPal account and can then select the amount of money they would like to transfer. The confirmation of the money transfer is sent to both sender and receiver from within the BBM chat.
For more information about the update including BBM support for the Apple Watch, visit Inside BlackBerry.
[1&2] Source: Gartner: “Forecast: Mobile Payment, Worldwide, 2013 Update”, May 2013
[3] PayPal money transfers using BBM will initially be available in Canada for funds transferred within Canada. Additional countries will be available with additional country rollouts.
Source: berryreview
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