VZW teams with Obopay

Verizon Wireless today said it plans to launch Obopay’s point-to-point mobile payment service over its mobile data network, allowing customers to transfer money to other Obopay users and eventually pay for goods at stores directly with their mobile phone.

Obopay’s payment network is designed to directly link the mobile device to a prepaid cash account, which can be used to purchase goods are send payments to other users, similar to the service offered by online payment giant PayPal, which launched its own mobile payment service last year. Like PayPal, the Obopay service is limited by the fact that few phones and even fewer retailers have the capabilities to initiate or accept wireless payments. Near field communications technologies are starting to fill the gap, allowing for truly mobile payments, but until the technology is more readily available, Obopay customers must use a more familiar medium, a MasterCard linked to their Obopay accounts.

The service is now separate from the Verizon Wireless billing system—payments come from a separate Obopay account and are not added or subtracted from a customer’s bill. The application itself can be downloaded onto a BREW device from Verizon Wireless’s Get It Now store, though it did not reveal specific details on how it would charge for downloading and using the service or whether or not it would charge a fee for individual transactions.