Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is coming up with a new payment method that will allow users to swiftly charge items to their credit card when they are shopping on the smartphone, says a report from AllThingsD. With the new payment feature, any user who is shopping through his or her smartphone will be able to fill in the credit card information automatically through a drop down menu.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has apparently named the feature “Autofill with Facebook”. The feature was accessible to a few users on Monday evening, as per the report. Facebook is not making the feature available for every user, but to only a few to get feedback at this point.
Presently two iOS apps can be purchased
There have been rumors and anticipations in the past as to what Facebook’s new payment method would look like and whether it can stand to the level of PayPal. Autofill with Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is reportedly a comparatively easier method to make payments online through a credit card, which otherwise is a tedious task to fill the information in small boxes.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) in its statement said, “We are working on a mobile payments test called Autofill with Facebook that gives people the option to use their payment information already stored on Facebook to populate the payment form when they make a purchase in a mobile app.”
The social network also said that it is taking the process further to facilitate easier payments. Autofill is being tested publicly on two iOS apps; JackThread and Mosaic, and the feature will soon start rolling to users this week.
Facebook not competing with others, as of now
Facebook’s Autofill feature will work alongside PayPal, Stripe, and Braintree for the two e-commerce apps, JackThreads and Mosaic. An alliance with these payment gateways indicate that Facebook is not necessarily competing with PayPal and others, rather it is trying to integrate. However, there are possibilities that, in the coming future, Facebook will look forward to outdo the others by processing payments itself.
Autofill from Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) should not be seen in the same frame as Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Wallet, which facilitates users to be able to shop from retail stores with their mobile devices. On the other hand, Autofill is only an attempt of the company to give access to customers in different ways to make purchases in mobile apps, and the feature will not do the actual payment processing.
