American Express has just launched a new initiative called Serve, which will allow users to link their American Express or other maps of flow to a single account and pay for goods and services only with an iPhone or Android handset. As you expect, you can send and request money from your contacts, in the application as well as add money to the account or transfer to another. Use has also the possibility of putting in place sub-accounts, which is pleasant for employers who want to define limited spending accounts, or parents who want to know how their children are spending money. There is also a neat Split the Bill calculator, for the time that you want to discover how everyone needs once gratuities are included.
Use is not quite as flashy Square, which allows to interact with magnetic cards, phones, or PayPal with Bump functions, but American Express is large enough to do something ubiquitous mobile payment. It is only the first step for the platform, and I suspect that it will be take advantage of the NFC, when and where it becomes available. It looks like MasterCard, Citigroup and Google are already on this line of thinking.
For now, use is available in the United States, leaving Canada out in the cold. Not that we were not in the cold before, or nothing. In addition, we have Zoompass here, which is basically the same thing. You can find the app in the Android Market or iTunes below, make sure you only register your card and account with first serve. They will send you a card who works at the vending machines for these periods, you need real money.
