LevelUp launches mobile payment web app

SCVNGR's QR code based payments app opens up to any web-connected device.

LevelUp was launched earlier this year to complement SCVNGR's shopping/gamification service. It sends a unique QR code to a user's phone, which can then be scanned by retailers to make a payment and also redeem loyalty points and offers.

In the spirit of SCVNGR, every time the consumer goes back, they unlock more credit.

Meanwhile merchants get - in theory - more business and more data about their customers.

LevelUp is already live in San Francisco, New York, Boston and Philadelphia with more cities coming soon.

Seth Priebatsch, chief ninja (yes, really) of SCVNGR and LevelUp, believes the service is simpler and more democratic than NFC et al. He said: “Currently, mobile payments are still terribly limited by niche requirements like Near Field Communications chips and licenses with certain card merchants, but it's just not going to work until anyone and everyone can pay with their phones.