Twitter Mobile Payments to Be Enabled through Barclays' Pingit next Month

Next month, Payments on Twitter may finally get a break when Barclays' Pingit mobile funds transfer service is enabled on the platform.

Pingit was introduced in 2012, and is currently available for iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone. The app has been downloaded 3.7 million times and has handled over £1 billion in transactions. On Twitter, it will be initially available for iOS and Android.

Users sign up by linking their Twitter handle to their Pingit profile. It is believed that the three-step process of logging in, selecting Twitter handle and send will make payments over Twitter a more pleasant experience. Previous attempts have failed to gain traction.

Although no phone number needs to be supplied throughout the process, Pingit money transfers are made to the account associated with the mobile phone number in question. This means that technically even non-smartphones are eligible to receive payments.

The feature joins a growing collection of new mobile payment methods, several of which don't require a smartphone, inlcuding M-Pesa, bKash, Ecuador's new digital dollar and several Bitcoin -based offerings.