People use mobile applications every single day and as bitcoin go into mainstream more bitcoin mobile-payment apps become available. Old fashioned payment methods stay behind while Gliph and Bridgewalker software for smartphones take the lead. Programs are now available from Google Inc. (GOOG) and other app stores.
Matt Tuzzolo, one of the software developers in Portland, Oregon, has chosen Gliph mobile application to pay bills in bitcoins. “It’s more convenient than PayPal. It’s as easy as sending a text,” said Tuzzolo.
Gliph Inc. has developed an application for Android to help customers to spend and earn bitcoin in everyday life.
The greatest opportunities that give mobile applications like Gliph could be described in two words – easy and fast. Consumers can use the quick digital currency transactions to make daily purchases, such as buying food or cinema tickets. It is an efficient way to transfer money.
“It has to be there, in person, when you have to spend it,” Rob Banagale, Gliph’s CEO, said in an interview to Bloomberg.
Another new application is Bridgewalker that is a euro-denominated wallet for the Bitcoin. The main difference of this application is that you can send and receive bitcoins, but the balance of your wallet will be converted in Euros. Bridgewalker converts back and forth between the bitcoin and Euro currencies when you need to send digital money or receive them. Fees for this service are 0.75 % on each deposit and withdrawal (or 1.5 % for a "round trip"), but developers have promised that it will go down in the future as volume increases
Moreover, Bridgewalker has been acquired by Hive in November 2013 and Hive for Android will be available in spring 2014. Recently Hive company has developed a bitcoin wallet for Mac OS X.
Jan Vornberger, Bridgewalker developer, believes that his experience can help bring Hive to Android. “The first objective is to provide a bitcoin wallet for major platforms that really puts the focus on usability and looks great,” he told in an interview to CoinDesk.
The success of bitcoin future depends on how it will be adopted for modern mobile technologies. Bitcoin Payment Apps for smartphones race has just begun.