Facebook expected to enter mobile payments through messenger app

Experts believe that new code found within the Facebook messenger app indicates that users of the networking tool will soon be able to use it pay for items in a similar system to Apple Pay. Despite this, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously emphasised the company's hesitancy to compete with other mobile payment providers.

Facebook could be about to enter the mobile payments market through an unexpected medium: its Facebook Messenger app. New code found inside the Messenger iOS app indicates that Facebook is attempting to make Messenger a way to pay for items in person a la Apple Pay and Android Pay.

It is believed that an upcoming software release will enable users to pay for items in person using Messenger without needing to carry any cash. However, it remains to be seen whether Facebook would create its own own mobile wallet service or make use of existing ones such as Android Pay or Apple Pay.

The Information discovered this while digging around in the source code of the latest version of the app for the iPhone. The app’s code was similarly used to successfully predict its peer-to-peer payment feature months before it was officially released.

This is interesting news in light of the fact that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said in the past that his firm is not looking to be a big contender the mobile payment market.

In a conference call with investors in January, Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook would partner with other payment providers at some point in the future and appeared to be in favor of such services.

He added: “We look at the stuff that Apple is doing with Apple Pay, for example, as a really neat innovation in the space that takes a lot of friction out of transactions as well.”

He suggested that the firm would use any type of move in this regard to benefit its advertising business rather than monetize it by taking a cut from any transactions made using the app. It is likely that they would use the service as a way to obtain more information about users’ preferences and buying habits.

Other changes in store for Messenger

The firm also appears to have some other big plans in the works for Messenger, such as the possibility of syncing calendars and having “secret conversations” of some sort. This could well refer to end-to-end encryption on user chats like that used by WhatsApp.

Ultimately, it appears that they hope Messenger will become an “everything app” that will replace many of the other apps people use on a regular basis.

So far, Facebook has not commented on the discovery. It’s possible that the matter will be addressed at the Facebook F8 developer conference, which starts on April 12.