Beem looks to turn your phone into your wallet

Lets you pay for pizza without cash or cards

14 November 2008 0:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

The days of carrying your credit card or cash could be a thing of the past if one company has its way.

Beem, a new form of mobile payment that sees you load up your mobile phone with money rather than carry it in your pocket, hopes to appeal to students and bachelors looking for an alternative way to spend their monthly wages.

Working like a PayPal account, but on your mobile phone, once you've loaded up your account with cash you will then be able to spend it at retail outlets around the country or send it to friends to pay off debts.

While the website simply states that you'll be able to spend it at a growing "network of businesses taking Beem", a spokesperson for the company told Pocket-lint that currently that means TopsPizza, PizzaGOGO, Fat Boyz Pizza and Lights Pizza on the food front and a range of London based taxi services. The company is also hoping to convince Greene King pubs to accept Beem payments soon.

However there does seem to be a catch stopping it going mainstream for the time being. For the system to work you need to give your mobile phone number to whomever is taking the payment so your account can be charged, something we could see being very difficult or awkward in a busy loud pub.

The free service, which currently can only be topped up by a debit card, hopes to make money by earning interest of the money you have stored in the account as well as taking a small fee from the retailer or restaurant meaning you won't have to pay a penny for the service but you will have to pay for the texts you send.

The only thing you've got to do is find a Pizza parlour near you that accepts your Beem credits.

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Comments

Beem doesn't pretend it will stop consumers carrying wallet or card. It does however recognise that it will be a preferred method of payment in particular environments.

Not only retail outlets and friends - anyone with a mobile phone: from ebay sellers who's auction you've won (goodbye PayPal) to tipping your waiter and ensuring the money goes straight to them, not to the restaurant.

Beemer

p.s. LOVE THE PHOTO!

The problem of a loud pub is easily overcomable in several way e.g. the customer texts the pub-beem-number for an invoice and the customers number is not fully stored. Pubs will not be a prolific location for beeming anyway. Posted by Beemer, England