Obopay rings up trial with Citi

Mobile payment startup Obopay Inc. announced an impressive win, inking a deal for a pilot program to allow Citi customers to send and receive money from wireless phones.
The Redwood City, Calif.-based developer said Citi users will be able to remotely track and manage their mobile payment accounts by monitoring balances, viewing payment histories and adding funds directly from handsets. Customers can also use a debit card to tap their accounts.
The companies declined to disclose cities for the trial, which is scheduled for later this year.
Citi claims 200 million customer accounts and operates in more than 100 countries. The company operates brands including Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica and Banamex.
Meanwhile, Sapphire Mobile Systems-another startup vying for a piece of the mobile payment market-announced a pilot program with Elan Financial Services, which processes transactions for 37,000 ATMs nationwide. The program, which launched this month, will allow Elan PayCard customers to check balances and make person-to-person payments using their phones.
The announcements underscore the increasingly competitive mobile payment space. Obopay and Sapphire are squaring off against fellow startups Cyphermint Inc., TextPayMe, Secure Wireless Transfers Corp. and others as well as PayPal Mobile, which launched a year ago.