MSN India reports on mobile wallets and payments in India saying that "current payment players in India are mChek, Obopay and PayMate." The article notes that the Reserve Bank of India is currently formulating the regulatory guidelines for mobile payments with the final draft expected by June 2008.

Obopay has announced the closing of its fourth round of venture funding, raising $20 million along with adding two new board members. Essar Communications Holdings Limited, the telecom subsidiary of Essar Global Limited, led the round. The two new board members are K B Rajendran, Senior Vice President, Essar Global Limited and Robert G. Hottensen, Jr., Senior Vice President for Public Equity at Olayan America Corporation.   » Continue Reading

GigaOm's Stacey Higginbotham writes that "Obopay has scored $20 million in additional funding, CEO Carol Realini told me this afternoon. She and other Obopay executives contributed to the round by wiring their investments to the company coffers by way of their Obopay accounts on their mobile phones." [Editor's note: We've not yet found an official press release from the company announcing the financing.]

iovation has announced that mobile payments provider Obopay is implementing iovation ReputationManager, iovation’s device-based fraud management service, 'to reduce the risk of online payment fraud by enhancing its ability to proactively identify devices that have been associated with fraudulent activity.'   » Continue Reading

In an article titled 'Turning your cell phone into a wallet', Fortune Small Business writer Jonathan Blum profiles Obopay's CEO Carol Realini. Also, earlier this week, Obopay launched the 'Official Obopay Blog'.

Citibank has announced that it will make Obopay’s mobile person-to-person payment service available to Citibank checking account customers on a trial basis. Citibank says it is the first U.S. retail bank to trial an integrated mobile payment service.   » Continue Reading

Obopay has announced the launch of its instant money transfer service in India through an alliance between wholly-owned subsidiary Obopay India and YES BANK, an Indian private sector bank.   » Continue Reading

Obopay has announced that "customers can now use their existing bank accounts to send and receive money via their mobile phone. With Obopay's mobile money transfer, non- customers can pick up payments without signing up for Obopay. These innovations make it easier than ever for any bank customer to conveniently send and receive payments from their mobile phones."   » Continue Reading

Abhineet Kumar reports from Mumbai for livemint.com on the evolution of mobile banking and payments in India - including the regulatory oversight of that evolution. "Californian mobile payment service provider Obopay Inc. and Bangalore’s mChek India Payment Systems Pvt. Ltd are among a fast-expanding breed of mobile payment service providers which have planned offerings that work within the guidelines and bring the convenience of mobile transactions."

Obopay has announced that it is adding support for BlackBerry smartphones. According to the company, "the new Obopay application for BlackBerry users provides fast, customizable access to Obopay's full suite of mobile payment services."   » Continue Reading

India's Economic Times reports that "Obopay, the US based pioneer in mobile payment services, on Tuesday said it has signed up with six banks and three mobile telephone providers, including BSNL, for its formal entry into the Indian market."

Tony Russomanno reports for San Francisco's CBS5.com about Obopay - and using its person to person money transfer service instead of Western Union. Although currently US only, Russomanno reports the company plans international support for moving money.

Obopay has announced it has partnered with Yodlee to facilitate instant bank account verification, letting Obopay customers immediately link their existing bank account to Obopay.   » Continue Reading

Obopay's BillMonk has introduced what they call "debt shuffling" - but it's really all about computing a net settlement position for social debts owed to a network of friends.

In an article titled 'Prepare to Lose Your Wallet", Conde Nast Portfolio's Sam Gustin profiles Obopay based on an interview with CEO Carol Realini. Gustin writes "Obopay's service is simple. For 10 cents, anyone with a cell phone can send up to $1,000 per week to anyone else with a cell phone. No bank account or credit card is required, and the company plans to raise the limit."

PodTech has posted an interview with Aditya Menon, Chief Information and Technology Officer of Obopay India. "Will mobile phones be the future for cash payment? Will mobile payment usher in a cashless society? Are services like Western Union threatened by mobile payment? These are all the questions that Aditya answers in this podcast."

TowerGroup has announced a new research report titled "Mobile Peer-to-Peer Payments: Verizon Wireless and Obopay Take a Short Step Down a Long Road" that finds that "while online peer-to-peer payments and their mobile counterparts are not new to the payments arena, the use of mobile devices to exchange payments between consumers is still in its infancy. The newly announced deal between Verizon Wireless and Obopay is novel, given the fact that a major U.S. mobile operator has chosen to partner with a startup technology vendor to support peer-to-peer payments by means of a downloadable application on mobile phones."   » Continue Reading

Citi has announced that it will begin piloting a new mobile peer to peer payment service with Obopay to select new and existing Citi customers as part of a limited consumer trial in Boston and Chicago.   » Continue Reading

Obopay has announced the closing of its third round of venture funding, raising $29 million. The round was led by Richmond Global Cellular, an affiliate fund of Richmond Management LLC. Other new investors included AllianceBernstein L.P., Citi, Societe Generale.   » Continue Reading

Obopay has announced the addition of several new mobile merchants and application providers to its Mobile Merchant Platform - including" innovative wireless community and media services provider Xringer Inc., mobile recycling program RIPMobile, online marketplace provider Chegg.com, mobile gaming platform developer Exit Games, and mobile search and advertising firm 4INFO."   » Continue Reading

In a press release headlined "Leave the Cash at Home", Obopay has announced that "Verizon Wireless customers will soon have another option when they shop other than just cash or credit -- they will be able to pay using their wireless phones."   » Continue Reading

Jessica E. Vascellaro reports for the Wall St. Journal that "Verizon Wireless plans to Wednesday announce a deal with mobile-payment company Obopay Inc. to allow subscribers to transfer money and make purchases via their mobile phones."

Obopay has announced the availability of a new AIM Obopay plugin for users of AOL's AIM service, the largest instant messaging community in the U.S. According to the company, "this new plugin allows eligible AIM users to launch Obopay and use it to make payments directly from the AIM Buddy List feature. Users can sign up for Obopay and download the free AIM Obopay plugin at http://www.obopay.com/aim."   » Continue Reading

Business Week takes a look at mobile banking and payments - including Citibank's pilot with Obopay, PayPal Mobile, Firethorn and First Data's efforts including last week's investment in VIVOtech.

Cellular South and Obopay have announced the availability of Obopay's mobile payments solution on Cellular South handsets. With Obopay, Cellular South wireless customers can now instantly and effortlessly receive, send and spend money directly from their wireless device to anyone, anywhere, anytime.   » Continue Reading

Obopay has announced the introduction of Obopay Checkout, calling it "an industry-first capability that enables mobile merchants to offer consumers effortless, instant payments that monetize digital and physical offerings."   » Continue Reading

Obopay has announced the launch of an m-commerce payment solution for mobile merchants and application providers that are looking to engage consumers via their mobile phones.   » Continue Reading

Citi has announced an agreement with Obopay to pilot an "innovative, real-time Person-to-Person mobile payments service later this year. The service will be offered to new and existing Citi credit and debit card customers. Further details, including cities for the consumer pilot, are to be confirmed and announced at a later time."   » Continue Reading

We have received news of the following recent management changes:

• Dave Johnson has been named CFO at mobile payments provider Obopay. Earlier, Johnson held roles as chief operating and/or financial officer at PayPal.

Obopay has announced a new Sponsored Accounts feature that the company says "allows anyone under 18 to benefit from the fun, convenience and security of sending and receiving money in real time via the mobile phone. Through this new family enhancement, parents can provide each child with an Obopay account linked to his or her own mobile phone. With Obopay, kids can now enjoy the freedom of spending cash in a cool new way, while parents get the tracking and control they need to ensure fiscal guidance." Obopay has also announced it is now offering a new "Refer-A-Friend" program to incent signups. It rewards Obopay users who refer their friends to signup with Obopay with $5 for each successful referral.   » Continue Reading

As reported earlier this morning on Payments News, mobile payment service provider Obopay has announced its acquisition of BillMonk, calling the company "a pioneer in "social money" services." According to Obopay, the acquisition "will provide on-the-go consumers -- who want fast and easy access to their money -- with services that fit their mobile lifestyle."   » Continue Reading

Over on the Notes from the BillMonk blog, there's news that BillMonk has been acquired by mobile payments provider Obopay. "When we first talked to the Obopay team it was clear to us that they care deeply about making it easier to deal with money. Given that BillMonk’s goal is to make money painless between friends, the match couldn’t have been better."

Obopay has announced that it is entering the Indian market for mobile payments and has appointed Aditya Menon as chief information and technology officer for India "as part of an international expansion to bring mobile payments to banks, carriers and consumers all over the world."   » Continue Reading

Dave Birch picks up the discussion about the question we asked a few weeks ago in our Creating Wealth from Payments Innovation post: why isn't there a Wal-Mart for payments? Dave blames regulation - and that's certainly a factor. Reminds me of the days when airline fares in this country were heavily regulated, preventing a Southwest from emerging. On the other hand, the most successful new entrant in payments in recent history - PayPal - navigated the regulatory waters (state money transmitter laws primarily) relatively easily. One could argue regulation wasn't much of a barrier for their entry. Google Checkout - acting not like PayPal as a money transmitter but, rather, as a master merchant - seems to have avoided any financial regulatory issues. On the other hand, mobile payment provider Obopay's job description for a VP Treasury Operations includes being responsible for "compliance with Federal banking regulations such as Anti Money Laundering, Patriot Act, Regulation D and E, and the FFIEC guidelines" and for "state money transmitter regulations".

Obopay, a Redwood City, CA-based mobile payments service provider, is looking for a Vice President, Treasury Operations. A summary description for this position follows.   » Continue Reading

Obopay has announced partnering with Helio to offer the Obopay end-to-end mobile payments solution to Helio members.   » Continue Reading

Mark Schwanhausser writes for the San Jose Mercury News about mobile payments - saying that "eventually Americans will be able to choose among high-tech alternatives that will transform how they shop, pay for goods, borrow money, dole out allowances, transfer cash around the globe and manage their finances." Schwanhausser reports that San Francisco "Bay Area companies are playing influential roles mapping the way, from old-school titans such as Wells Fargo and Visa USA to New Economy ventures such as PayPal, Obopay and Yodlee." In a sidebar, Schwanhausser takes a look at some of the experiments underway.

Obopay has announced it has received an add-on investment to the strategic round announced last September from Wolfensohn & Company, L.L.C.   » Continue Reading

Digital Transactions reports on Obopay's launch with Amp'd Mobile earlier this week and last week's agreement with Vivotech to connect to contactless payments at the point of sale. According to the article, Obopay "is promoting signups now with an offer of $5 for each account as well as $5 for each account referred by current users. Each Obopay accountholder receives a MasterCard debit card linked to the funds in his account and issued by First Premier Bank, allowing users to get cash from ATMs and spend it in stores."

Tomorrow morning Obopay is announcing that it has gone live on all Amp'd Mobile devices - delivering what the company calls "the first operator-supported mobile payments service in the U.S." As a part of a co-marketing initiative, Amp'd will feature Obopay's mobile payments service on its home page where visitors can sign up and receive a $25 bonus in their newly created Obopay account.   » Continue Reading

ViVOtech and Obopay have announced a partnership to "allow Obopay users to access the ViVOwallet to conveniently and securely pay for retail goods by waving their near field communications (NFC) mobile devices in front of the more than 160,000 retail outlets equipped with a ViVOtech point-of-sale device."   » Continue Reading

Mobile payments provider Obopay has announced a $7 million strategic investment round led by wireless technologies innovator QUALCOMM. Other participants in this round include investors Redpoint Ventures, ONSET Ventures and Richmond Management, which all contributed to the series A round of $10 million last February.   » Continue Reading

Adam Balkin writes for News 10 Now in Syracuse, NY about how to use your cell phone for payments - highlighting both PayPal Mobile and Obopay.

Obopay has announced that said it has entered into an extensive partnership with Amp’d Mobile that "marks a milestone in the adoption and deployment of mobile payment systems in the U.S." The two companies said they will offer the new mobile payment service, Obopay-Amp’d to every Amp’d subscriber in the coming months. Amp’d will promote the service to all Amp’d subscribers In addition, the two companies agreed to an aggressive joint promotion on university campuses across the country this fall.   » Continue Reading

Michal Lev-Ram writes for Business 2.0 about mobile commerce - saying its time has finally come. In the article, Lev-Ram looks at BillMonk, PayPal Mobile, Obopay, TextPayMe, and MyTango. According to Dan Schatt, a senior analyst at Celent, "The stars are finally aligning. This will happen a lot faster than most people realize."

KLTV in Tyler, Texas takes a look at how a mobile payment service like Obopay, TextPayMe, or PayPal Mobile can be used to settle up among friends. "Each service operates differently, but the basic idea is the same. To pay someone...you text a code or command to the company along with the amount and the recipient's cell phone number."

Obopay has announced that it will enable a new phone payment option for online retailers and BREW mobile application providers that provides merchants an easy and low-cost way to process mobile payment transactions and enables consumers to easily initiate purchases from their mobile phones with a simple touch of the keypad.   » Continue Reading

Kirstin Cole reports for WCBS-TV in New York about using mobiile payments to transfer money among friends using Text-Pay-Me, Obopay, or PayPal Mobile.

Mylene Mangalindan and Jessica E. Vascellaro of the Wall St. Journal review the new mobile payment services from PayPal Mobile, Obopay, and TextPayMe. Earlier this month, we posted the Payments News US Mobile Payments Players - Comparisons chart that also outlines the most important similarities and differences between these three mobile payments services.

Ryan Kim reports for the San Francisco Chronicle on last week's CTIA Wireless 2006 conference and the mobile payments initiatives launched by PayPal and Obopay as well as trials underway exploring the use of near-field communication (NFC) chips embedded in cell phones.   » Continue Reading

At Glenbrook, we've put together a preliminary comparison table that compares a number of the attributes of PayPal Mobile, Obopay and TextPayMe. It will probably need to be updated after PayPal officially announces PayPal Mobile tomorrow - and we'd like to remind you again that we said this comparison table was preliminary or, as Google would say, it's in beta. We certainly haven't had time to "make it pretty" either! Comments/corrections/feedback appreciated! Click here to view the table.

We've posted a first look at Obopay's just announced mobile payments service. Click here to read the full text.   » Continue Reading

San Francisco Bay Area-based mobile payments startup Obopay is advertising for a number of positions including engineering, quality assurance, business development, and risk management positions.

A number of other companies are also hiring for mobile payments positions including Sapphire Mobile Systems along with several undisclosed companies.

Palo Alto-based Obopay has announced closing a $10 million Series A financing round with investors Redpoint Ventures, ONSET Ventures, and Richmond Management. Obopay says it will soon bring to market "the first comprehensive mobile payment service in the U.S. that allows subscribers to get, send and spend money directly from their mobile phones."   » Continue Reading