TextPayMe has a new website accessed via an Amazon.com subdomain URL that says its now "Powered by Amazon Payments". TextPayMe, still in beta, was one of the first person to person mobile payment companies to launch when it was initially introduced in December 2005.

TextPayMe, one of the first person-to-person mobile payment services to launch (PN first covered TextPayMe on December 13, 2005), has recently enabled users to link a Visa or MasterCard to their TextPayMe account for the purpose of funding payments. TextPayMe says it is currently "designed for personal use only" and caps the amount of money that can be sent or received at $500 per month per account - but the company says it is "working to include a merchant account feature to allow our users to surpass the initial payment limits." TextPayMe is currently offering a $5 referral bonus for referring new members to its mobile payment service.

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."

Friends are reporting receiving an email notice from mobile payments operator TextPayMe saying that they've "temporarily disabled" their credit/debit card payment option and will only be supporting funding directly from bank checking accounts in the meantime. In the email, TextPayMe says it plans to bring back the credit/debit card capability "shortly" along with introducing some other new features to the service.

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."

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.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's John Cook reports from the Wireless Ventures conference in San Jose on a presentation by Text Pay Me's founder and CEO Philip Yuen in which he described his company's differentiation from 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.

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.

Patrick Baltatzis reports for Business 2.0 on earlier rumors driven by job postings that PayPal may be planning to get in (or back in) to the mobile payments business.

Rachel Metz reports for Wired News on mobile payments company TextPayMe.

TextPayMe CEO Phil Yuen emailed me today with some updates on his recently launched mobile payments startup.

Over on the TextPayMe blog, the founders share why they really started this new mobile payments company:

"We wanted to split dinnertime bills easily and fairly."

Digital Transactions takes a deeper look at mobile payments startup TextPayMe.

Earlier today, we posted an item on the beta launch of a new text-based mobile payment service called TextPayMe.

Glenbrook's Russ Jones has taken a quick look at this new service and provides some initial comments on what he sees.

Earlier this month, TextPayMe announced a new text messaging-based service for sending money using mobile phones. The company says it supports deposits from electronic bank transfers or credit cards and supports withdrawals via wire transfer or mailed checks.