$$$ Ka-Ching $$$

First the major credit card companies brought out their instant pay options - Visa PayWave & Mastercard PayPass and were latched onto by major banks around the world.  Now Australian bank Commonwealth (owners of New Zealand's ASB) have launched their own version based on the iPhone platform.

Kaching is being launched exclusively on the iPhone, but will later on be available for android phones.  Until NFC (Near Field Communication) chips are installed as standard (expected in the iPhone 5) users will have to purchase a compatible iCarte case with built in NFC chip, to be able to take advantage of this app.

In addition to wireless NFC payments, the Commonwealth Bank's Kaching app is also the world's first to provide peer-to-peer payments (P2P) via mobile, e-mail and Facebook. The Kaching app links to the iPhone's address book to enable mobile and e-mail payments, while the app will link direct to your Facebook ID to enable payments via the social networking service. The Kaching app will enable mobile, e-mail and Facebook payments to non Commonwealth Bank customers by directing these users to a secure, external site to collect payments.

Read more about Kaching from ARN HERE