Just after hearing that Google and MasterCard may be teaming up to provide NFC payment options via Android-powered devices, American Express announced that it’s joining the “mobile payments” game.

Currently PayPal is the leader in person-to-person payments, but with its new Serve service, American Express hopes to challenge that. Assuming both the sender and the recipient have Serve accounts, the service lets them send each other money simply by entering the e-mail address of the intended recipient into their app.

Beyond basic functionality there are a few bells and whistles that set it apart from PayPal’s offering. For example, you can withdraw funds from your account and deposit them onto a refillable pre-paid card, and even create sub-accounts for others to use (your kids, for example), complete with spending limits.

Apps are available for both iPhone and Android.

Source: Mobile Crunch