Owe Someone Money? Just Bump (YC S09) Your Phones | Hacker News Reader

Owe Someone Money? Just Bump (YC S09) Your Phones

bits.blogs.nytimes.com

23 pointscomatose_kid19 comments

Can I have some special kudos for thinking of this when the API was announced?

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1010581

Yes, I mentally gave you kudos at the time if that helps. ;)

Isn't this the original idea that got Paypal's founders their initial VC investment - transferring cash from one Palm Pilot to another? If memory serves me right they scrapped it early on because the tangential website transaction feature was becoming popular.

It could still work now that handhelds are more prevalent

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confinity

Palm Pilot IR transfer system.

This should be an interesting battle between PayPal and Square. PayPal has the brand and Goliath sized resources.

Square has backwards compatibility with how credit cards are currently used and a fast, innovative team.

What could possibly go wrong..

Are you concerned that PayPal+Bump creates additional risk? Try it out and let me know. I am not an expert in payments, but it shouldn't be any riskier than PayPal alone. In fact, I would argue in several ways it is safer (can't send money to the wrong person because of a typo for example).

What's more likely to happen?

1) The wrong email address because you have an incorrect entry in your address book. It's not just a typo, but a typo for a real email address.

2) A server/software issue that causes the bump to go somewhere else. (It's my understanding that the two devices being bumped connect through the vendor's servers.)

Good point. For what it's worth, I've done a little bit of work with the Bump team. Given their talent and technology backend, I suspect it's very unlikely that they've ever made a mistake. Also, they user is always prompted, "are you sure you want to exchange X with Y" before the transaction proceeds so you can be sure the bump happened with the person you expected. For more, see the second FAQ here: http://bu.mp/faq.html

Re 1) I have used the previous PayPal app a lot and I found myself typing in emails more than I pulled them out of my address book. My address book has mostly phone numbers, emails are rare. I think this is because of Gmail's autocomplete; it reduces my need to save people's email addresses if I have ever sent or received email with them. Also, you are assuming you are giving money to someone in your address book, there are lots of use cases where this is not the case. But, true point if this is how you would use the app.

Re 2) There are multiple confirmation steps you go through after the bump. First, our API requires that both people say Yes to connect to the other person (PayPal uses your email or phone number, whatever the other person logged in with). PayPal has a second confirmation screen where you review the transaction before sending money. So while it is possible you could be matched to the wrong person (although very unlikely), you would both have to hit yes and then reconfirm you want to send money to that person. Bump does not connect you to anyone until you say Yes, there is a safety net.

Neither us or PayPal want to create a system where you send money to the wrong person. No system is perfect, mistakes have to pile up on top of mistakes for this to happen and the user always has control.

Give it a try, it is fast and fun. :)

The bump part seems unnecessary in fact. "Select somebody from your contact list,then bump their phone". The bump just ensures... what exactly?

It ensures you're "hip" and "get it". It means you're in the in crowd who know what 'bumping' is.

The rest of us just email/sms/anything less stupid sounding than "bumping". Really. It's right up there with microsoft Zunes and their "squirting".

I don't see this. The times article says you do one of the two (and the app screenshot seems to confirm this).

It's a mental closure to the transaction like a handshake.

A gimmick that makes the customer feel like he just did something and gives him something to talk about when describing the transaction to a friend.

And something to worry unduly about. Hmm did the 'bump' work? Did I bump with the right thing? Did it think I bumped something else? etc etc

You "bump" another phone if you don't have their contact info already. The app automatically sets them as the recipient of your paypal transaction (presumably without you having to save their information -- which allows "business" type transactions without filling up your contact list.)

Ok, I misread the process then, I can believe that.

Looks like it could catch on because the gimmick seems genuinely fun, but "Christine" has some serious man-hands.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com