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"Droplet, a Birmingham, UK-based startup looking for a stake in the mobile payments market, has launched in London today with the support of two major retailers: Chiltern Railways\u00A0and Airparks.\r\n\r\nThe concept behind Droplet will sound familiar to anyone who has looked at Barclays Pingit or O2 Wallet in the UK. The mobile app, available only on iOS at the moment, allows users to load cash onto their smartphone and send payments to other users for free.\r\n\r\nBefore now, Droplet has been busy experimenting with a beta trial in Birmingham, which has seen 2,500 users and 60 merchants adopt the mobile platform.\r\n\r\nThe biggest hurdle is, arguably, trying to get more shops and businesses to accept payments via Droplet. With its London launch, the company has persuaded notable train operator Chiltern Railways and airport parking specialist Airparks to adopt the platform. It\u2019s certainly a start, but the company will need to persuade a much larger pool of businesses if it's to make any real impact on the market.\r\n\r\nThe differentiator for Droplet, however, is that it doesn\u2019t require merchants to use a custom debit or credit card reader, like Square, PayPal Here or iZettle. Instead, users pay simply by scanning a unique bar code with their phone when they reach the till.\r\n\r\nTo coincide with the launch, Droplet is also launching a new platform, called Droplet Tools, which gives developers the ability to build customized features for merchants, such as discounts or a reward scheme.\r\n\r\n\u201CThis ranges from helping people get everything together for an evening out, dispatching virtual goods in seconds, or allowing customers to order without leaving their seats, Will Grant, CTO of Droplet said.\u00A0\u201CThe \u2018Tools\u2019 bring about the true potential of mobile commerce and an end to the frustrating barriers people usually experience paying via mobile.\u201D\r\n\r\nWhile it\u2019s still early days for Droplet, the company clearly has a lot of work to do when it comes to building partnerships with merchants and improving the mobile app\u2019s general awareness.\r\n\r\nThe firm says it will be launching in other major cities across the UK, including Bristol, Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, later this spring alongside a new funding round.\r\n\r\nIf Droplet\u2019s story sounds familiar, you might remember them under the guise of Settle. The company was forced to rebrand last year after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Swedish mobile payments firm iZettle, who claims that there were \u201Cvisual, conceptual and aural similarities\u201D with its name.\r\n\r\n\u27A4\u00A0Droplet | iOS\r\n\r\nDisclosure: This article contains an affiliate link. While we only ever write about products we think deserve to be on the pages of our site, The Next Web may earn a small commission if you click through and buy the product in question. For more information, please see our Terms of Service."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/03/20/mobile-payments-firm-droplet-launches-in-london-with-new-developer-tools-and-support-from-chiltern-railways-and-airparks/>