AmEx Debuts Mobile Payment System

We told you last month how Visa plans to roll out a system that would let people pay each other without cash or checks by using their cell phones. The innovation would let people who wanted to pay their babysitter, for instance, or a colleague who grabbed them coffee simply by accessing their mobile phone number or email address. Now, American Express has announced a competing peer-to-peer (P2P) payment tool called Serve.

According to the company, users can pay other people online or via their cell phones, and use the service to make purchases at retailers that accept American Express via a reloadable prepaid debit card that's linked to the consumer's online Serve account. Serve has mobile apps for both Android and Apple smartphones and can be accessed via Facebook in addition to the Serve.com website.