Facebook makes mobile payments easier

SOCIAL NETWORK Facebook has begun rolling out a mobile payments system in a bid to make online payments quicker and easier.

Announced at Mobile World Congress in February, Facebook's "low friction" mobile payments system introduces a two-step payments system, a process which previously took seven steps. This makes it much easier for users to buy Facebook Credits online, ideal for when you urgently need that new shed in Farmville.

All purchases are simply added to your monthly mobile phone bill, and Facebook says the service is available on "most" UK networks including O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Three and Vodafone. Sorry, Virgin Mobile customers.

"The payment flow is simple," Jessi Xu, a Facebook software engineer said in a blog post. "Users who want to pay for a virtual or digital good in a mobile web app open the payment dialog and confirm their purchase."

Xu also promised that the service is easier for game developers to integrate, saying that mobile web developers interested in adding Facebook payments to their web sites can integrate through Facebook's payments API. µ