Blaze Mobile has announced its a new “smart” sticker, which allows real-time transfer of information between the sticker and a mobile device, without the use of a carrier network. With Blaze’s new sticker, when consumers make contactless purchases, the data is sent directly from the sticker to the mobile device, eliminating the need for a carrier network or WIFI.

The sticker can be used on any mobile device, and offers Blaze’s users real-time account information whether in a store, subway, transit station, airplane, or anyplace without cell phone reception. The data transfer is a two-way transfer, so the mobile device can also transmit information to the smart sticker without using a carrier network or WIFI. This technology offers many new possibilities for consumers — for example, a customer can easily store and select from multiple payment options, like credit, gift and debit cards. In addition, Blaze’s sticker allows for a host of business options beyond mobile payments, such as remote access to buildings, cars or health care data, and increased data security because of the ability to remotely deactivate lost or stolen stickers.

This new sticker improves upon the original patent-pending sticker concept that Blaze Mobile pioneered in 2006. Blaze’s first mobile payment sticker was introduced as a solution to the lack of near field communication (NFC) cell phones in the marketplace. The payment sticker has proven popular, and other companies have embraced Blaze’s idea and created their own versions. Blaze’s original sticker sends transaction data in one direction from the sticker to the Point-Of-Sale (POS) terminal, and then traverses the payment network to the Blaze servers. Blaze servers then deliver this digital receipt to the mobile device Over-The-Air (OTA) using the carrier network. This entire process takes only a few seconds, and is acceptable to most customers in terms of performance. A potential problem arises in situations where the wireless network is not available to immediately transfer the data, and the new Blaze sticker eliminates that limitation.

“We are excited about the potential of this new smart sticker since it closely mimics the behavior of NFC embedded inside a cell phone. More importantly, it dramatically increases the number of potential NFC devices, and encourages consumer adoption of contactless payments. Manufactures of mobile hardware and software have announced plans to introduce more NFC devices in to the market, which we are excited about. Until NFC handsets become commonplace, our payment stickers are a free and easy solution for consumers and industry,” explains Michelle Fisher, CEO, Blaze Mobile.

The new Blaze Mobile smart stickers will be available during the first quarter of 2011.

Source: Business Wire