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Do you use PayByPhone in Seattle? Volkswagen acquires payment app

PayByPhone screen grab

Volkswagen will acquire PayByPhone, a parking payment app used in the world’s largest cities, including Seattle, where 750,000 transactions are completed per year in the Emerald City.

The PayByPhone app allows people to fill meters without displaying a stub or paying a physical parking meter.

In a news release on Wednesday, Volkswagen Financial Services AG,a business division of the Volkswagen AG group of companies, announced the purchase with the sum undisclosed.

"With our acquisition of PayByPhone, we are now the leading provider for the processing and mobile payment of parking procedures. In the future we will be bundling this know-how in a separate business field around the theme of parking," wrote Dr. Christian Dahlheim, the Management Board member responsible for sales and marketing at Volkswagen Financial Services AG.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the deal is about more than one of the world's largest auto makers getting into the parking business; it's the latest move by a car marker to compete in a "mobility arms race that is heating up in the auto industry."

Wall Street Journal reporter John D. Stoll wrote, "Currently, mobile payment methods are fragmented and often customized by product providers, such as Starbucks Corp. Vehicle insurers, service garages and local retailers are among the companies that are expected to be interested in working with auto makers on how to make money off car-owner data and access."

In an interview Tuesday with Stoll, PayByPhone chief executive Kush Parikh said the purchase could allow the auto maker a better way to offer drivers a more convenient way to buy things.

PayByPhone works with municipalities or parking garages in its service to drivers.

Users in Seattle pay a $0.35 convenience fee when they use PayByPhone to park in one of 12,000 spaces across the city, according to GeekWire

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