Popular Digital Wallets

Popular Digital Wallets

Mobile devices, mainly smartphones are becoming central to how people communicate with each other and do other activities including online shopping and financial transactions. Emerging markets like Asia Pavific, Africa and the Middle East account for 80 percent of the projected growth. The top five countries where rapid growth is projected include India, China, Myanmar, Indonesia and Japan. The smartphone user base in India is projected to reach 445 million users by 2020 whereas the digital payments market expected to touch $500 billion by the same period.

 As smartphone  penetration is expected to increase globally, mobile wallet companies such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Samsung Pay, Paytm, Freecharge, etc. are encouraging consumers to use e-wallets to transact more easily. Some of the most popular digital wallets used in the world are:

Apple Pay

Apple Pay is a simple and secure mobile payment service provided by Apple Inc. It lets Apple device owners to make payments using an NFC chip, which is built into their devices such as iPhones, iPads and Macs. The wallet app lets users to add their debit and credit cards to Apple Pay. The users can manage the cards in Settings. Tap on a card to see specific information like last digits of the card number, last digits of the Device Account Number that replaces the card number in transactions, and it also provide contact information for the bank that issued the card. Apple pay works with latest apple device including iphone 6,6s, 6plus,6splus,7,7plus,and apple watch.The user can use Apple app store or iTunes.

PayPal

PayPal is one of the most popular and widely used digital wallets in the world. It allows users to exchange money between other PayPal users. It also allows to view and manage transaction. Paying with PayPal is secure. When the user pays using PayPal, the merchant receives only the payment, not the user’s financial information such as credit card details. PayPal allows users to make payments using a variety of methods including: PayPal balance, PayPal Credit, bank account, credit and debit cards, and PayPal branded debit and credit cards. PayPal app is available for both iOS and Android platforms as well as for the web.

Google Wallet

Google Wallet is another popular mobile payment service offered by Google. The users can send money to anyone with an email address or phone number. The users can simply link their debit or credit cards to their Google account. The money that is received is automatically transferred to the user’s bank account, which is linked to the wallet. The users can send money through the app, in Gmail or on the web (www. wallet.google.com). Google Wallet uses NFC technology for making or receiving payments. All financial information in Google Wallet is encrypted and stored on Google’s protected servers in secure locations

Samsung Pay

 Samsung Pay is a mobile payment and digital wallet service owned by Samsung. it allows its users to store cards on their phones so that they can pay in-person at POS locations around the world. Samsung Pay uses both Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology and magnetic stripes for making payments at the POS systems. Samsung Pay works with latest Samsung devices including Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and Note 5. These devices contain the hardware that works with magnetic card readers.

Freecharge

Freecharge offers a simple and fast way to do online recharges for prepaid and post paid mobiles, data cards. You can also pay utility bills, such as DTH, electricity, landline phone, broadband and gas in India for most service providers. It recently added metro card recharge as an additional feature on its platform. The wallet can be topped up using your debit card, credit card or net banking account. You can manage your Freecharge account using the mobile app or access it using a web browser.

Mobikwik

Mobikwik is a semi-closed wallet that can be used to recharge mobiles and pay bills It is accepted across numerous merchants including Dominos, eBay, etc. Top ups can be done using debit cards, credit cards and net banking. The Mobikwik app can be used to send and request money between friend and family members using a mobile number or email address.

PAYTM

Paytm is the largest e-wallet provider in India with more than 200 million registered user. It is the fastest growing company in the digital (or mobile wallet) space. It can be used for mobile recharges, metro rail recharge ,and paying utility bills such as DTC, electricity and water.it can also be used to purchase at grocery store, pharmacies, restaurants, ration selling shops, petrol stations and some vegetable vendors. Paytm has tied up with many companies in categories such as shopping, travel, entertainment and food. In February 2014, Paytm launched an e-commerce marketplace (called Paytm mall) that enables users to shop for products across categories such as fashion, electronics and consumer durables. Consumers can make payments using Paytm wallet, credit and debit cards, net banking or Unified Payment Interface (UPI) mode, to name a few. Moreover, users can use Paytm to book tickets in flights, trains and buses; or, send and receive money. Paytm also recently started its payments bank that offers current and savings account deposits. Other features of the payments bank include debit card issuance and Internet banking services. Paytm mobile app is available for iOS, Android, Windows and Blackberry.

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