Mediaboss Marketing

New digital payment technologies seem to be popping up every week and giving us alternative ways to pay - without using cash or even a credit or debit card.

From the recently launched Barclays Pingit phone app to Google Wallet and Near Field Communication-enabled smartphones, it remains to be seen which technologies will become mainstream.

But in the perpetually web-connected world of 2012 it certainly does look like coins and notes could be going the way of the dodo.

Here's a look at the ever-growing world of digital payment, which technologies you can already use and which ones are likely to be replacing your wallet in the not too distant future.

Send cash to a phone number

Last month, Barclays launched Pingit, a unique way of sending money to a mobile phone number. Just as Paypal allows you to send money safely and securely to an email address, Pingit does the same for mobile phone numbers.

Pingit comes as a free-to-use application for your iPhone, Android or Blackberry smartphone and allows you to send up to 300 a day to anyone with a phone number and a UK bank account.

You input the amount you want to transfer and the phone number of the recipient. They then receive a text message telling them about the payment and asking you to register with the service to receive payment. If they don't register

within 24 hours, the transaction is cancelled.

Only Barclays current account holders are able to send payments at the moment, as the app is registered against their currents account with the bank, but anyone can receive payments from Pingit.

Read more:
MoneySmarket published Digital money: Time to kiss goodbye to cash?