Facebook developing m-payment system

Social networking giant Facebook is continuing development of Project Spartan, its HTML 5-based mobile payment system, reports Digital Trends.

Since June, there have been some fairly well-supported rumours that Facebook is planning to implement its own mobile payment system.

Details from Project Spartan emerged last month and made it pretty obvious that Facebook was working on a way to get around the extremely tight grip Apple's App Store has on mobile consumers.

Now Bloomberg is reporting that the Project Spartan is underway. “Facebook Inc is in talks to let developers sell virtual goods within mobile Web browsers, part of an effort to generate more revenue from smartphones and tablet computers,” insiders say.

According to Marketing Vox, earlier this year Facebook unveiled a programme offering consumers a financial incentive to watch ads on the site by rewarding them with Facebook Credits to buy goods from Facebook Deals.

Credits also played a role in the pilot project between Facebook and Mobile Interactive Group in which viewers of Sky Network's Got to Dance were able to participate and vote using Facebook Credits.

This is the latest in Facebook's evolving mobile strategy, as it attempts to boost usage and revenue for its sites and services on smartphones and tablets, reports Mobiledia.

Facebook is one of the most popular mobile apps on iOS and Android, though it makes no revenue from these. Allowing developers to use Credits as a currency would be a step towards remedying this situation.