H
Harish Jonnalagadda
Snapchat may be looking to monetize by launching a mobile payment service, according to trademarks filed earlier this week. The documents reveal that the ephemeral message service is looking to process peer-to-peer payments, money transfers and online payments.
Here's a summary of the filings:
Computer application software for processing electronic payments to and from others that may be downloaded from a global computer network (Trademark Serial # 86335306)
Electronic transfer of money for others; providing electronic processing of electronic funds transfer, ACH, credit card, debit card, electronic check and electronic, mobile and online payments (Trademark Serial # 86335307)
While Snapchat has dabbled in in-app purchases, advertising and sponsorship from brands, these filings suggest that the messaging service is going the route of WeChat, which offer similar features in Asia. At this stage, it is hard to speculate as to the direction Snapchat will take when it comes to payments, but it is likely that the service will offer a way to transfer money between friends, or partner with brands to allow customers to buy goods from directly within the app.
Would you be interested in sending money to your friends using Snapchat if such a feature were available?
Source: TechCrunch
Continue reading...