Tag: MasterCard

Ed McLaughlin was at Money2020 and explained the future of NFC across smartphones and other devices.

At the Las Vegas 2013 Money2020 event, Ed McLaughlin, the chief emerging payments officer at MasterCard addressed the fact that in mobile payments, “a smartphone is a device, not the only device.”

He explained that transactions may be headed toward the use of smartphones, but not exclusively.

McLaughlin stated that although mobile payments are important in terms of the use of smartphones, the true focus is about building a digital network. Within the demonstrations that were made of the MasterCard technology, a smartphone was used, but so was a watch and a credit card, for example. In fact, it was mentioned that the service has already been effectively tested with Google Glass augmented reality glasses, though they did not have any specific announcement about plans for that device.

When a customer has used mobile payments two or three times, tapping the device to pay will be a habit.

MasterCard feels that by the time the customer experiences the convenience of NFC technology for mobile payments, and taps the device or card 2 or 3 times to make a purchase, he or she won’t return to using traditional credit cards. McLaughlin referred to a report that he had just received from Australia, where Kohls has experienced a growth in contactless payments of 60 percent.

The MasterCard platform uses both NFC technology and QR codes, and it offers a number of app functions and choices to provide a safe and customized experience for the user at the point of sale. This includes additional benefits such as loyalty cards and coupons. The app also provides an interesting feature that allows for a shipping option after an item has been purchased in store. This means that, for instance, if a large TV has been bought, the consumer can opt to have it shipped to their home, instead of having to transport it, themselves.

This has all been worked into the popular existing PayPass platform from MasterCard, with its tap and go NFC technology feature. It is now being combined with QR codes for added security and to allow the process to remain convenient for consumers who are becoming quite familiar with the barcode scans.

PayPal made a similar mobile payments announcement at Money2020 in which they state that they would also be integrating QR codes into their transaction process to keep security high and yet still convenient.

New mobile payments service comes to Egypt

The National Bank of Egypt, along with the Egyptian Banks Company and Mastercard, has launched a new mobile payments service dubbed “Phone Cash.” The service is meant to provide the growing number of consumers with mobile devices a new and more convenient way to pay for products. Mobile payments have been growing more popular in Egypt and throughout Africa in recent years and the African market has become a relatively promising mobile commerce market.

Phone Cash aims to expand the availability of mobile commerce

Phone Cash is designed to be more inclusive than many other mobile commerce platforms. The National Bank of Egypt is keen to see mobile consumers make use of the service whether they have a bank account or not. As such, the service is available to consumers that do not have an account with the National Bank of Egypt or any of the country’s other banking entities. This expands the availability of the mobile payments service and provides consumers without bank accounts another way to manage their money.

Application to function as a digital wallet

The Phone Cash service is meant to act as a sort of digital wallet. Consumers can download the Phone Cash application and use it to store a variety of financial information. The application allows for money transfers from bank accounts and supports a variety of payment cards, leveraging the funds associated with these cards to make mobile payments. The service is supported by Fawry, one of the largest payment services in Egypt. Phone Cash can, therefore, be used at more than 20,000 Fawry outlets in the country.

Mobile payments grow among young Egyptians

Mobile payments have been growing more prominent in Egypt as more consumers get their hands on smartphones and tablets. These consumers tend to be somewhat young, falling between the ages of 21 and 35. Older consumers have shown more caution when it comes to mobile commerce, either because they do not fully understand how mobile payments work or because they are worried about the security of their financial information.