Earlier this year, Facebook announced it was testing a mobile payments platform that would allow users to log in for e-commerce transactions using the social network. If you had purchased an in-game credit or aFacebook Gift, your credit card information is already stored with Facebook. The company has been working on a way for Facebook users to utilize Facebook as a one-tap login mechanism, making it so users don’t have to get out their credit cards if they want to purchase something via mobile.
According to AllThingsD and TechCrunch, Facebook is rolling out this capability now for the iOS apps of JackThreads and Mosaic.
TechCrunch reported that Facebook is partnering with PayPal, Stripe and Braintree to power an “Autofill with Facebook” button, which should appear on the aforementioned iOS apps Monday and in other mobile shopping apps in the near future.
When a Facebook user taps the button, it imports the payment information already stored within Facebook into that app. This cuts back on the friction of a transaction, making it more likely a user completes a sale. The more steps there are to a conversion process, the less likely the customer is to complete.
Facebook payments product manager Deb Liu discussed this new feature with TechCrunch:
We’re all trying to solve the same problem: helping devs monetize and convert. The more conversions, the more payment volume that goes through Braintree, Stripe, or PayPal [and they make their fee that way]. … Mobile is where the conversion gap is, where our customers are going in the future. It’s really important to make this an amazing mobile product. That said, we don’t rule out ever doing this on desktop some day.
To us this look like the logical follow-up of the Facebook “want” button which never rolled out (for now). How do you feel about this new feature? Would you trust Facebook for your online payments?
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