PayPal in Federal Reserve row

PayPal, the fastest-growing unit at online marketplace e-Bay, claims the Federal Reserve Bank shouldn't subject the company to a cap on debit card transaction fees, a move that could threaten most of its US revenue, reports Bloomberg.

The Fed is seeking public comment about whether limits passed by Congress should apply to non-traditional payment systems such as PayPal that are vying for part of the $4 trillion US payment market dominated by Visa and MasterCard.

“PayPal's business would be damaged if it's regulated like payment card networks,” says Patricia Hewitt, a director at consulting firm Mercator Advisory Group.

Starbucks has rolled out mobile payment technology in all US company-operated stores, allowing customers to pay for in-store purchases with select smartphones, states Trading Markets.com.

Building on the earlier introduction of Starbucks Card mobile application for select BlackBerry smartphones, iPhone and iPod Touch in a successful mobile payment test programme, customers now have access to a mobile payment programme.

Starbucks anticipates mobile payment will draw customers looking to experience the speed, ease and convenience of paying with their mobile phone.

Charge Anywhere has updated its mobile payment application for the Android operating system, says Into Mobile.

Its mobile payment application supports non-credit card transactions such as cash payments. Retailers can download the mobile payment application for Android smartphones and for Android tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy.

Charge Anywhere's president and CEO, Paul Sabella says: “Charge Anywhere is excited to participate in the explosive growth of the Android Market and business interest in mobile payments.”