Tag: near field communications

NFC mobile payments enabled through smartphone case

| September 19, 2016

The bPay compatible product has been designed to make this service available to a larger number of devices.

Case Station, a manufacturer of smartphone cases, has now created a product that enables NFC mobile payments. This product has integrated with the bPay contactless payments from Barclaycard. The goal is to make it possible for people whose smartphones are not equipped with near field communication to use the technology.

NFC mobile purchases can be done with a quick tap of a smartphone at contactless checkout terminals.

Though a large number of companies have offered NFC mobile payments transaction options, the number of smartphone users who have the technology for these services are in the minority. After all, without an NFC technology chip, the device simply isn’t compatible.

NFC Mobile Payments - Smartphone CaseA statement from Barclaycard explained that “All the Case Station cases have been created to discreetly hold a small bPay contactless chip, which will allow users to make touch and go payments for £30 and under (US$39.73) easily and quickly without fumbling for cash or entering a PIN wherever they see the contactless symbol.”

With the NFC mobile payments compatible case, even a phone without the tech can be made compatible.

The payment giant went on to say that the Android and iOS apps for the mobile payments service will not only allow transactions to be completed but also tracked. The bPay chip is connected to a mobile wallet which can be used by consumers with Visa or MasterCard debit or credit cards registered in the United Kingdom.

In this way, consumers can add funds to their mobile wallets by way of the app or online via the bPay website. They can also take advantage of an automatic top-up function which will add funds to the mobile wallet whenever that balance drops below a chosen level.

The Case Station product is technically a smartphone protector case. They are compatible with smartphone models from the LG, Samsung Galaxy and iPhone lines. They also contain the NFC mobile payments chip necessary to use near field communication transactions. They are being sold in a range of different color and pattern options to make them attractive as well as functional.

Xiaomi Mi Pay launches mobile payments service in China

| September 6, 2016

This makes the company the latest smartphone maker to step into that Chinese market.

Xiaomi Mi Pay has launched in China. This has added yet another mobile payments option for consumers in the country. It also means that Xiaomi has become the latest in a series of smartphone makers offering a mobile wallet in China.

The Mi Pay mobile payments service is a contactless payments system using NFC technology.

So far, Xiaomi Mi Pay supports debit cards from 12 banks and credit cards from 20 banks. These include China Merchants Bank, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Bank of China, among others. According to Xiaomi, a smartphone user will be able to add up to eight cards to their mobile wallet.

Xiaomi Mi Pay - China Mobile PaymentsLei Jun, CEO and founder of the company, said “We believe that Mi Pay will be a key driving force in promoting the development of China’s mobile payments industry, and deliver much more convenience to our users.”

Xiaomi Mi Pay jointly launched with the China UnionPay state-run nationwide mobile payments system.

There are already a number of large scale mobile payments systems that have launched in China and around the world. Among the biggest names include Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and WeChat Pay from Tencent, as well as Alipay from Alibaba. These are all available in the largest smartphone market in the world, which is the Chinese marketplace.

Mi Pay users will also be able to take advantage of added mobile wallet features. Aside from debit and credit cards, they can also add public transportation cards. This way, they can avoid the need to dig a card out of a wallet or bag when they likely already have their smartphones in their hands.

In order to use Xiaomi Mi Pay, the smartphone must be near field communication (NFC) enabled. The NFC technology makes it possible for the device to communicate the necessary information with either a tap against the reader or by waving the device in front of it. In the name of mobile security, the NFC technology using smartphones underwent tests to ensure they could withstand a range of non-invasive and invasive attacks to break through encryption and reach private data. Moreover, this mobile wallet uses multiple authentication mechanisms to verify transactions.