Wal-Mart Stores Inc is testing a system that would allow shoppers to scan items using their iPhones and then pay at a self-checkout counter, a move that could trim checkout times and slash costs for retailers.
If the "Scan & Go" test by the world’s largest retailer is successful, it has the potential to change the way people shop and pay, making the process more personal and potentially faster.
[Read more…]
South Korea’s telecom titan KT Corp. said Monday that it will roll out a new service for Apple Inc.’s iPhone, which will turn the smartphone into a mobile wallet for wireless financial transactions.
The country’s second-largest mobile operator plans to introduce a new smartphone case for the iPhone based on near field communication (NFC) technology, which allows a wireless exchange of data within a 10 centimeter range, it said. The NFC case will enable users to make credit card payments or pay subway fees by simply waving their iPhone over an electronic reader, KT said. [Read more…]
A recent survey, entitled, “2011 European Mobile User Study” found that 40 percent of consumers who intend to buy a smartphone as their next mobile device will choose an iPhone. Android-based devices come in second (19 percent), followed by BlackBerry (17 percent) and Nokia (15 percent). [Read more…]
One of the most common iPhone 5 rumours is about Near Field Communication (NFC), the technology that allows mobile payments with a wave or “tap” of a device. Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter and mobile payment company Square, is now officially available in the iPhone store.
Radu Tyrsina at IT Pro Portal, “Square seems to be a pretty comfortable way to perform mobile payments. The device that one uses to perform the card credit swipe is a small square-shaped object that can be attached to an iPhone, iPad or other smart device to perform the transaction. This throws into doubt whether the iPhone 5 will come with NFC technology after all.”
via ITProPortal.com.
CHARGE Anywhere, a provider of mobile payment solutions and payment gateway services, has released CHARGE Anywhere for iPhone, a mobile payment application for iOS devices.
CHARGE Anywhere offers three Magnetic Stripe Readers (MSR); An audio jack MSR, a receipt printer with an integrated MSR and an MSR cradle. Signatures can be captured and receipts can be printed or be emailed to customers. Transactions processed via an iPhone can also be seamlessly uploaded into QuickBooks through CHARGE Anywhere payment software designed for use with QuickBooks.
In addition to credit card payments, the CHARGE Anywhere mobile payment app allows cash transactions, check transactions and ACH/echeck payments. “With CHARGE Anywhere’s App on your iPhone, sales will increase by enabling customers to pay their bills in multiple forms at the point-of-sale,” said Dmitriy Lerman, Director of Marketing at CHARGE Anywhere.
CHARGE Anywhere’s mobile payment software and payment gateway solutions are supported by virtually all major card processors in the US and Canada.
“CHARGE Anywhere is excited to release our award-winning app on the iOS platform. We couldn’t be more excited that our CHARGE Anywhere App is now running on the Apple Platform! Our Mobile Payment App can be downloaded on the iPhone, iPad and iTouch and allows business owners to accept credit cards for their business anywhere, anytime. Now, CHARGE Anywhere is making our feature-rich payment app more accessible by enabling businesses to complete cash and check sales with a free download,” said Paul Sabella, CEO of CHARGE Anywhere.
CHARGE Anywhere offers three Magnetic Stripe Readers (MSR); An audio jack MSR, a receipt printer with an integrated MSR and an MSR cradle. Signatures can be captured and receipts can be printed or be emailed to customers. Transactions processed via an iPhone can also be seamlessly uploaded into QuickBooks® through CHARGE Anywhere payment software designed for use with QuickBooks.
In addition to credit card payments, the CHARGE Anywhere mobile payment app can empower cash transactions, check transactions and ACH/echeck payments. “With CHARGE Anywhere’s App on your iPhone, sales will increase by enabling customers to pay their bills in multiple forms at the point-of-sale,” said Dmitriy Lerman, Director of Marketing at CHARGE Anywhere.
CHARGE Anywhere’s mobile payment software and payment gateway solutions are supported by virtually all major card processors in the US and Canada.
Source: PR Newswire
According to two people with knowledge of the inner workings of a coming iteration of the Apple iPhone — although not necessarily the next one — a chip made by Qualcomm for the phone’s processor will also include near-field communication technology, known as NFC.
This technology enables short-range wireless communications between the phone and an NFC reader, and can be used to make mobile payments. It is unclear which version of an iPhone this technology would be built into.
via New York Times.
While Android has made huge strides against the iPhone in terms of smartphone usage,according to Aviva Litan, an Analyst at information technology research and advisory company Gartner, Inc., banks are more comfortable with the iPhone for their banking apps. And even then, she writes, the mobile apps that banks are releasing “offer limited functionality and don’t enable high-risk transactions such as adding new payees for bill payment or new accounts for fund transfers.”
In a recent blog post, Litan writes:
“Most of the financial institutions I work with or use have released iPhone apps but have stayed away from other mobile operating systems and platforms. I asked a few banker colleagues the reason for this, and they told me that; the iPhone development environment is easier to work with, the applications are better controlled in terms of distribution (using the iTunes store), and that they didn’t have the security confidence or appetite yet to develop mobile apps for at least ten operating systems or handset versions (e.g. various Blackberry versions, Symbian, Android) that they would need to support to reach more of their customer population.”
More via Gartner.
ProPaym which provides merchant services, end-to-end payment security, credit card processing, and electronic payment services, has introduced its new social mobile payment (m-payment) platform, provisionally named Zumogo, during the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
Zumogo is a mobile payment application that facilitates payments and bi-directional communication between merchants and their consumers, allowing customers and businesses to connect. With Zumogo (pronounced “Zoo-MOE-Go”), businesses can market to new and existing customers and improve operating efficiencies, while customers can communicate with and make payments to businesses — all through a smartphone.
“The mobile payment movement is definitely in full gear and ProPay is excited to be at the forefront,” said Chris Mark, Executive Vice President of Emerging Markets at ProPay. “Not only does Zumogo allow consumers to connect with and pay merchants in an entirely new way, it does so in a manner that protects the sensitive payment data. Zumogo combines data security with the flexibility of mobile payment options, and the connectedness of social media, giving merchants and consumers the best aspects of each.”
The application provides benefits to both consumers and businesses. Consumers no longer need to carry all of their payment cards with them to make a payment. They can locate nearby Zumogo merchants, and even announce themselves to the merchant and ask questions via Zumogo’s chat function. Businesses can more efficiently service their customers while developing a deeper relationship with them. In addition, Zumogo can enable businesses to expedite the payment and checkout processes, allowing them to more efficiently serve their customers.
Zumogo leverages ProPay’s PCI DSS-compliant ProtectPay system, which combines end to end encryption and tokenization to secure payment data, and no sensitive data is exchanged between the merchant and the consumer.
According to Gary Goodrich, ProPay’s Chief Executive Officer, “Our new social m-payment platform demonstrates our commitment to leading the industry in both innovation and in the protection of consumer data. The addition of this mobile payment application to our existing product suite is a natural evolution of our secure payment services, and we’re excited to introduce it to our merchants.”
Zumogo is currently available on the Android Market and the iPhone App Store, and will be available for the Windows Phone 7 platform by the end of the first quarter 2011.
Source: MarketWire
Apple could cause some serious disruption in the mobile payments market if it enters that arena as reported, say analysts.
Reports noted earlier this week that Apple is planning to embed Near-Field Communications NFC technology into its next-generation iPhones and iPads. What’s likely to make Apple’s offering vastly different, however, is the company’s huge base of 160 million iTunes users, said Avivah Litan an analyst at Gartner. That base gives Apple the ability to operate largely as a “closed payment system” with minimal need to interface with credit card companies and banks, she said. “They can largely shut out credit card companies if they choose to,” and operate in much the same way that PayPal has done in the virtual world, she said.
via Computerworld
Visa Europe and Wireless Dynamics Inc. have developed a mobile contactless payment solution that will bring Visa contactless payments to iPhone users across Europe.
The solution relies on Wireless Dynamic’s iCarte accesory. iPhone users simply attach the Wireless Dynamics iCarte, available through their bank or mobile operator, to their iPhone and download the companion Visa Mobile application for iCarte App from the App Store.
The iCarte accessory contains an antenna and an embedded Secure Element where the Visa mobile card is safely stored. This “card”, in turn, works with an app from the App Store to enable payments on the iPhone. Once the Visa mobile card is activated, consumers can start making purchases by simply launching the app and touching their iPhone on any contactless-enabled point of sale terminal across Europe, without the need to enter their PIN.
The iCarte accessory is designed to equip iPhone users with the tools they need to buy goods using mobile contactless technology from a growing number of European retailers. Visa Europe’s first deployment has been launched in collaboration with Yapi Kredi bank and Turkey’s largest mobile operator, Turkcell. Yapi Kredi customers equipped with a Turkcell mobile plan will be the first who can purchase directly from their iPhone at 40,000 contactless point of sale terminals in Turkey using their iCarte payment accessory.
The product is also being used in the UK with Visa staff in London with partners FIS, a leading provider of prepaid platforms, and Coventry Building Society. To further commercialize the accessory, Visa Europe will engage its member banks and partner mobile operators in Italy, France, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK, all of which have rapidly maturing contactless payment infrastructure.
Sandra Alzetta, SVP, Head of Innovation at Visa Europe said: “It’s clear from trials across Europe that mobile contactless payment is a strong and compelling customer proposition. Visa recognizes that consumers who use smart phones like iPhone are more likely to be early adopters of advanced payment technology. Given that the availability of a wide range of mobile devices supporting contactless services remains a key hurdle for take-up, we are overcoming this obstacle by bringing the capability to the iPhones already in their pockets.”
Ambrose Tam, President and CEO at Wireless Dynamics commented: “Working with Visa Europe to commercialize our iCarte accessories is a leap forward in increasing the number and types of mobile payment solutions. We’ve worked hard to design and build a feature-rich and appealing product for our partners and iPhone users across Europe.”
Recent consumer research of 4,200 people across Turkey, the UK, Italy and Poland confirms strong consumer demand for mobile contactless payments with 41 per cent of respondents stating that they “definitely would” or “probably would” sign up to use Visa mobile payments. Critically, this percentage increased to 57 per cent when directed to iPhone users, which demonstrates that the device is the ideal cross-over of target mobile users and consumers with positive attitudes to new payment technologies. The research also indicated that 87 per cent of this iPhone users surveyed would be willing to use an accessory to enable their device for mobile contactless payments.
The Wireless Dynamics iCarte accessory is compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPhone3G on iOS 3.1 or higher. The iCarte Secure Element can be associated with multiple Visa accounts.
Source: Wireless Dynamics, Inc.