BY ROBIN SIDEL

American Express Co. is pumping money and technology
into a fledgling company that wants consumers to pay for purchases by
using their mobile-phone number.

AmEx is expected to announce on
Wednesday that it is the lead investor in a $19 million financing for
Payfone Inc., a New York start-up that also is backed by the
venture-capital arms of Verizon Communications Inc. and Research In
Motion Ltd.

“The phone number is the most ubiquitous
identification in the world. Using that as a way to check out means it
can be used on a global basis,” said Rodger Desai, co-founder and chief
…

message from mary jean… does anyone have the rest of this article?