Bump, the massively successful application that allows users to ‘Bump’ their iPhone’s together in order to quickly transfer contacts and photos between devices, today introduced Bump pay for the iPhone. As it title suggests it allows users of the app to send and receive money to each other simply by using the same ‘bump’ action.
Following on from the success of the Barclays ‘Pingit’ application, the service is free to use and is being powered by Paypal. It is being aimed at people splitting a dinner or drinks tab, and all you need is a Paypal account and the ability to clench your fist around an iPhone for the service to work.
Questions have been asked of Bump however, why they decided to develop and release a completely new app instead of just updating their original. According to Bump cofounder, David Lieb, their intention was done “purely not to upset current customers further”. When Bump version 2.0 was originally released in July 2010, the company introduced a number of new features including the ability to share calendars and music, but this left Bump users feeling that the app was getting too large and some were left distinctly un-impressed. Bump took the decision to release version 3.0 in February without these features but again this left some customers less than thrilled, showing you can’t please everyone.
Pay apps are becoming more apparent within the smartphone market with the likes of Pingit, and Bump Pay’s core solution isn’t new. Paypal’s own app is also ‘Bump’ enabled, but given Bumps current base of 80 million users they felt they would be able to offer something extra in the pay app market.
Bump Pay represents a shift by the company. Instead of introducing new features in it’s primary app, it will instead release separate products under a Bumps Lab umbrella.
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