The newly introduced service, dubbed Beba, is initially being rolled out in Nairobi. Users will need a Gmail account to activate the cards, which can be loaded up to a maximum value of USD 115 from a network of local agents.
Conductors on the bus network in Kenya can tap the Beba cards on an NFC-enabled mobile phone to process the payment and the user gets a receipt by SMS. The Beba website will track and dispplay users account balance, paid rides and payments into the system.
In order to market the Beba cards, Google has entered a partnership with Top Image, a global provider in the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) service market.
Most recently, Google has shut down One Pass, the online payment platform aimed at online news publishers.
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