Mobile Payment Magazine

DeviceFidelity’s In2Pay Announced as Visa’s First Official Contactless Payment Solution – and It’s MicroSD

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DeviceFidelity In2Pay

Photo from DeviceFidelity

Following in the buzz from the recent Isis initiative announcement, Visa has announced the availability of mobile contactless payments enabled by DeviceFidelity’s In2Pay microSD solution.

In2Pay is the first mobile contactless payment solution included in the list of Visa compliant products available for potential commercial deployment by financial institutions in the U.S. and select markets. There are approximately 5 billion mobile handsets in market around the globe, and according to IDC3, smart phone shipments globally are expected to increase 24% in 2011, helping drive continued growth in more robust and powerful mobile devices that are capable of supporting contactless payment. [Read more…]

Montise Joins with Software Developer ViVOtech for Mobile Phone Payment Solutions for Banks

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NFC-enabled Nokia 6212 - contactless transaction. Image from ViVOtech.

Monitise, a provider of mobile money solutions, has joined forces with near field communication (NFC) software developer ViVOtech, to deliver mobile phone payments services to banks across the United States. The partnership means customers of participating banks will be able to turn their handset into a mobile wallet (linked to registered bank accounts, credit and debit cards) and purchase items using contactless payments at merchants with NFC capabilities.

In addition to contactless payments, service users will be able to transfer money from their registered accounts to other bank accounts, perhaps in response to an overdraft alert or to friends and family. The service will also deliver retail coupons and discounts directly to the user on their mobile phone. [Read more…]

Boku Provides Mobile Payment Solutions in France and Korea

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Boku, a London-based mobile payments platform that allows customers to make payments via their mobile phones, has inked deals in France and Korea. The French deal will reach nearly all 55 million mobile customers in the country. According to mocoNews:

“In France, it’s inked a deal with the French Association of Mobile Multimedia (AFMM) and the three big French mobile operators that lead it, Bouygues Telecom, Orange France and SFR. The AFMM, founded in 2005, counts as members several smaller mobile operators in the country such as Auchan Telecom, Debitel, NRJ Mobile, Omer Telecom, as well as publishers and other service providers, so this agreement will essentially cover almost all of France’s 55 million mobile users. In Korea, Boku has signed a deal with Mobilians, which works with various content providers to enable mobile payments on their sites, to be enable a service for people to use their mobile telephone numbers to make the payments.”

via mocoNews.

Ringo Inc. Acquires iControl Mobile Systems

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RingGo, Inc., a leader in pay-by-phone parking in the UK, has acquired the assets of Rockville Maryland based iControl Mobile Payment Solutions for an undisclosed amount of cash. iControl Mobile entered the pay for phone parking market in early 2010 and gained a foothold through its strength in marketing, branding and the technology expertise of its parent company, iControl Systems USA.

Phone parking is a software-based solution to on-street, off-street, garaged and a variety of other paid parking scenarios. Phone parking allows customers to pay for parking with the use of only a cell phone and credit or debit card. It eliminates the need for walking to pay stations, counting coins for meters and returning to the street to renew time. It is an entirely green technology, and can be implemented by parking operators with virtually no capital investment, no new equipment, and no installation of any infrastructure.

RingGo, Inc. is backed in large part by Cobalt Telephone Technologies ltd, provider of RingGo cashless payment solutions for parking. The acquisition of iControl Mobile puts Cobalt in a position to introduce RingGo pay by phone technology to the United States market. RingGo has 73% of the pay-by-phone parking market in the UK, with approximately 2 million registered users.

RingGo, Inc. will trade under the iControl Mobile name briefly, and will transition to the RingGo, Inc. brand within the coming months. iControl Mobile’s executive management will remain unchanged.

iControl Mobile Managing Director, Amie Devero, says, “This is a terrific development for both iControl Mobile and Cobalt. We are incredibly proud to bring RingGo to the US market, and delighted to offer such a wide range of benefits to our customers.”

iControl Mobile’s product offerings will be strengthened by the addition of Cobalt’s catalog of additional parking technologies.

iControl Mobile Payments Technologies, LLC was formed in 2009 by iControl Systems. iControl Systems is a privately held scan-based trading company providing services to most major retailers in the US, including Barnes and Noble, Kroger and CVS. According to its most recent data, iControl Systems is expected to exceed $200m in gross revenue in 2010. Information about iControl Systems can be found at www.iControlUSA.com.

Cobalt Telephone Technologies, ltd. is a UK-based telephone payment transaction company, providing multiple services to the transit sector, including RingGo pay by phone for parking. RingGo service is available in over 3000 unique parking locations in England, Scotland and Wales, in support of 53 municipalities and 14 rail operators. For more information on Cobalt, please visit www.ctt.co.uk.


PayPal Looks for Growth Opportunities in Mobile Payment

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PayPal’s growth is outstripping parent company eBay’s, due in part to the rapidly expanding mobile payment business. The company expects about $700 million in mobile transactions this year, though the amount still represents only about 1% of PayPal’s total transaction volume. Currently PayPal is working several angles of mobile payment, including a partnership with Bling Nation.

via NYTimes.com.

Gemalto Seeks Growth in NFC Market with NXP Partnership

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Working toward growing its presence in Near Field Communications (NFC) payment systems, Gemalto has entered into an agreement with NXP Semiconductors N.V., as well as the mobile payments trial in Singapore.

Gemalto’s activities range from the development of software applications through the design and production of secure personal devices such as smart cards, SIMs, e-passports and tokens, to the deployment of managed services for our customers. The company has more than 10,000 employees and 2009 revenues of  €1.654 billion.

The agreement with NXP, calls for Gemalto to integrate NXP’s MIFARE technology into its Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC), which will expand the mobile contactless payment market because MIFARE is one of the most ubiquitous mobile contactless services and Gemalto’s SIMs are used in a large number of mobile devices.

The agreement enables Gemalto to complement its existing NFC application portfolio with MIFARE DESFire and MIFARE Plus  technology for its UICC security solutions. As a result, mobile operators and service providers will be able to offer a broad range of mobile contactless services thanks to the widened availability of UICC cards incorporating MIFARE.

This is the most widespread contactless technology worldwide and provides high levels of performance, flexibility and security in public transportation, access management, event ticketing and customer loyalty programs.
“MIFARE is already at the heart of contactless infrastructures around the world,” said Henri Ardevol,
vice president and general manager, secure transactions, NXP Semiconductors. “We are proud to
collaborate with Gemalto to offer the convenience of this technology to a new target of 5 billion mobile
phone users.”

“Adding the MIFARE capability to Gemalto’s NFC application portfolio is key for the mass deployment of
mobile contactless,” added Rémi de Fouchier, senior vice president, Trusted Services Management,
Gemalto. “We are enthused that more and more consumers around the world will enjoy the simplicity
and convenience of waving their mobile phone for couponing and stored value payment and transport
services.”

Source:  RCR Wireless News, Gemalto

Kaizen Communications Partners with Billing Tree for Mobile Payments

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Kaizen Communications, a mobile tech firm specializing in mobile payments, distribution of mobile content and mobile campaign management, has announced a partnership on-demand payment processor, Billing Tree. Kaizen was recently acquired by Sunset Brands, Inc.

Billing Tree offers a suite of payment solutions ranging from web payments to check conversions, and is currently processing over 3.4 million transactions per month. The company provides every available option for accepting payments without the need for additional software.

Kaizen’s mobile payment and billing reminder software, Kpay, currently allows customers the ability to pay bills, send and receive funds, and execute point of sale transactions from any mobile phone.

“Integrating with Billing Tree will enable Kaizen to bring mobile bill presentment and payments to a mass audience, allowing simplified mobile payments to become a reality for customers using their SMS enabled mobile device,” says Kaizen’s CTO, Curtis Keith.

Sunset Brand’s U.S. Financial Assets CEO, J. Bert Watson, Sr., adds, “This is a major breakthrough for USFA. Our comprehensive payment solution is patent pending and part of a payment revolution that offers users a more convenient option to pay over traditional methods. Kaizen is currently in negotiations and expecting to sign this week other third party billers which will represent over 15 million bills per month. The impact this has on revenues for USFA moving forward is tremendous.”

US Financial Assets, Inc. is a Financial Services firm with a focus on the strategic acquisition and investment in federally insured banks, mortgage companies, SBA, insurance, mortgage title companies, management and capital consultative services, REIT and distressed real estate holdings primarily in the Southeast Region of the U.S.A. The firm recently acquired Kaizen Communications, implementing several applications within a nationwide launch of mobile payment solutions.

7-Eleven Partners with PayNearMe for Mobile Payments at 7-Eleven Locations

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7-Eleven has participated in various tests of mobile-payment technology with MasterCard (MA), Nokia (NOK), and others. On Nov. 16, the company said it would help customers who want to use their mobile phones for payments—yet lack credit or debit cards—by partnering with PayNearMe, a cash-payment network.

via BusinessWeek.

BilltoMobile Provides Direct Mobile Billing for Online Purchases by AT&T Wireless Customers

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Online purchases can be billed directly to existing AT&T wireless service accounts, with the new agreement between BilltoMobile and AT&T.

BilltoMobile will provide its Direct Mobile Billing payment service to AT&T’s wireless subscribers as part of a trial service.

“We’re excited to collaborate with AT&T and offer their customers the benefits of a convenient, user-friendly mobile payment solution,” said Jim Greenwell, CEO, BilltoMobile. “This form of billing is the logical next step in the e-commerce mobile payments landscape.”

BilltoMobile’s growing list of participating online merchants will provide AT&T subscribers with access to mobile payments on several top online digital goods and services sites.

BilltoMobile continues to attract major online merchants with its secure Direct Mobile Billing approach. Merchants find that offering mobile payments drives significant incremental revenue from a wide variety of consumers and for a lot of different reasons including convenience, security and accessibility.

BilltoMobile provides a secure payment option for mobile-centric consumers, and the interface requires no registration, no set up, no application or downloads and no association with other financial instruments, such as credit or bank cards. Purchases completed with participating merchants are secure, and take only two steps and a few seconds to complete.

More information: BilltoMobile.com.

Source: BilltoMobile