TECHNOLOGY
“ Small , unpaid debts between friends may seem easy to forgive when hoping to avoid awkward conversations , but they can leave a sizeable hole in consumers ’ wallets ”
says Colbeci . “ You can see this in recent announcements over the last two years from the ability to send and request money through a personalized link with PayPal . Me , in e-mail via Microsoft Outlook , and most recently through voiceactivated payments through Siri .
“ The P2P industry is at an exciting juncture . A lot of people , especially millennials , don ’ t like carrying cash so the industry will continue to
see exponential growth of P2P payments . Today , a third of US millennials are embracing P2P payments and 42 percent of millennials would prefer to send or request money through a mobile device . For financial institutions to stay relevant to younger consumers , they need to embrace mobile-friendly and cost-effective P2P solutions . With Venmo , we ’ ve seen that millennials appreciate a social component where people can add comments on what the payment is for .”
While the Siri integration is currently only available with Apple devices , PayPal is always looking for new avenues in which to become involved , and will likely expand to more voice-activated platforms in the future . Colbeci and his team now know the recipe for developing successful P2P services ; in his words : “ To stay ahead of the competition , a strategy that combines mobile , personal , and contextual would most likely be the winning formula . You ’ ll continue to see more on this from us .”
22 March 2017