The research group also noted that prepaid debit cards are also growing at an almost unparalleled rate. Why group that finding in with mobile payments? Because it all points to a decrease in the monopolistic power that major banks have been getting used to for decades. For the first time in most people’s lives, you can now go to a store, complete a transaction, and not have any cash on hand or a credit or debit card, thanks to mobile payments.

This means that players like Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and more need to be on their toes and innovate like they never have before. So what’s next? IDC practice director Aaron McPherson said, “Based on our results, we expect to see continued growth in open-loop prepaid cards and mobile payments next year, and believe that the improvements being offered in electronic-bill delivery will break electronic-bill presentment and payment out of its doldrums as well.”

[via QR Code Press]

QR codes have so far been used mainly for basic tasks like directing users to micro-sites. So if you go into Best Buy and scan the QR code next to a TV, you’ll go to a special landing page with more information about the product. Paydiant wants to bring that technology to mobile payments. In a VentureBeat interview, Paydiant founder Chris Gardner accused players like Square and Google Wallet of having “Visa envy.”

“We said, hey, regardless if that becomes a viable model, we believe there’s an opportunity for someone to offer mobile wallets and offers solutions to brands,” Gardner said. His company is also looking into NFC technology for when that might become a bit more accessible, but for now it likes the QR code idea. It has regional trials set up with five banks throughout the country and has secured nearly $20 million in funding.

[via VentureBeat]

Facebook intellectual property associate Mark Park wrote a blog post in which he described his leader Mark Zuckerberg encouraging employees to come up with a unique way to distinguish the new office space. “I’d like to paint a gigantic QR code somewhere so we can RickRoll online maps, or point people to our careers site, or send them to a ‘Clarissa Explains it All’ GeoCities Page,” Park wrote.

And so it happened. Thanks to a few drums of black paint, some chalk and twine, and good old fashioned ingenuity (and beer), a group of dedicated Facebookers created a QR code that can be seen from a satellite view of the area. “The next time you zoom in on Facebook from a satellite map or find yourself flying into SFO, take a close look at our roof,” Park said. Again, though, there still is no clear vision on what the QR code will or should do.

[via VentureBeat]

So, the idea would be that if you own a restaurant, you could print up menus with special QR codes that can interact with the PayDragon app. Customers take those menus home or to the office with them, launch the PayDragon app, scan the codes to order what they want, and pay for their food directly from the mobile app. All you need to do is make the food.

This is an increasingly competitive space. Other order fulfillment services like Seamless, Delivery.com, and GrubHub provide similar functionality. They all have both desktop Web applications as well as mobile apps. So the success of PayDragon relied on exactly how much value users will find in the QR aspect, which is its only differentiating factor.

[via GigaOM]

Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest handed out 55,000 of the condoms at colleges and universities in Washington State. They were handed out to celebrate National Condom Week, and as you might expect the special condoms got around. While they were handed out only on the West Coast, check-ins have occurred all the way over on the East Coast and in all but two states.

The site goes so far as to offer the users the ability to rate their activity with things such as “The Safe Sex Was”… The choices include “Ah-maz-ing – Rainbows exploded and mountains trembled,” to “Things can only improve from here.” The only downside I can see to this is if a check-in happens to be at your girlfriend’s house and you didn’t make it.

[via NY Daily News]

Here’s how it works. After you download the Clik app, you brows through Youtube videos on your phone. Once you’ve found one you like, turn your attention to the big screen you want to play it on, scan a QR code, and you’re good to go. This app is from the same team that created Kik, an instant messaging app that was so intuitive and user-friendly it has managed to sign up more than 6 million users in a world where most people already have some other IM handle they’re more used to.

Of course, QR codes are still a nascent technology, and could ultimately be replaced with something less cumbersome before they’re able to make a truly significant splash. In addition, there isn’t one universal standard when it comes to QR printers and readers. But without getting too far beyond the point of this story, Clik shows that it’s possible for integration between devices without a middleman – no Apple TV, no set-top box, no wires, etc. The app is available now.

via Guardian]