Tag: nfc mobile payments

NFC technology to be used for mobile payments test

| February 27, 2013

NFC Technology Dutch Banks Mobile PaymentsDutch banks have partnered up in order to give near field communication transactions a trial run.

Three Dutch banks have partnered together in order to run and observe a pilot program that will use NFC technology that they may then implement in order to provide their customers with mobile payments options.

This new test will involve the participation of two other large companies as well.

Both the wireless carrier called KPN, and the credit card giant, MasterCard, will be joining up with the three banks in the Netherlands in order to run the trial period. This will help them to investigate the use, success, and potential adoption rate that can be expected from a mobile wallet that is based on NFC technology in the country.

The banks involved in this NFC technology pilot program include ING, ABN Amro, and Rabobank.

The NFC technology mobile payments pilot program is expected to begin during this upcoming summer. It will involve the participation of a select group of individuals in Leiden, Netherlands. These people will be offered a mobile wallet that uses the near field communication tech in order to allow them to make payments using their smartphones.

The test itself will be conducted by Mobile Payment Netherlands, which is a venture that is backed by the three banks that are involved in this trial period. The test group of individual participants will include 1,000 people who already have accounts with at least one of the three participating banks. They will be given the opportunity to use their NFC technology enabled smartphones in order to make payments when they are purchasing products and services from various locations around their city.

The Mobile Payments Netherlands initiative through the three banks that have partnered together in this effort are what is left of the so-called “Sixpack” of Dutch banks and carriers that had initially come together in 2011 in order to build a solid infrastructure for smartphone transactions within the country. Last year, that original group fell apart, but it has partially rebuilt itself in this latest project through the smaller number of participants.

Each of the Dutch banks will be performing their own assessments of the NFC technology based pilot program in order to be able to create their unique individual strategies for mobile payments.

Mobile payments at Visa to expand this year

| February 18, 2013

Mobile Payments VisaThe credit card giant intends to go mainstream with its service throughout this year.

Visa has unveiled its intentions to expand the use and availability of its mobile payments services to the point that they will become mainstream within 2013.

Its announcement claimed that the expansion of the systems is an “immediate priority” for the company.

The mobile payments that it has to offer are already working to help to bring the United Kingdom to the top spot in Europe. At the moment, Poland is in the lead in terms of the largest marketplace for transactions using a smartphone or tablet within the European Union.

Visa UK and Ireland have both made announcements regarding this mobile payments mainstream launch.

These were made by way of Marc O’Brien, the managing director of Visa UK and Ireland. He stated that the credit card company was making a series of different efforts that would lead to a mainstream launch of the mobile payments services.

O’Brien also went on to say that his company was currently working alongside the leading manufacturers of Android based devices, in addition to Vodafone and Telefonica. These partnerships are designed to help to established higher security standard levels through the NFC technology based transactions.

In 2012, the Olympic Games in London were used as a trial period for various types of mobile payments. Many of the participants were given smartphones that were enabled with NFC technology in order to boost the awareness related to mobile payments, and encourage its use. O’Brien explained that “Building momentum from the Olympic Games, we’re looking to roll out of the [contactless payment] cards and handsets this year.”

He went on to add that “We’re also working on a digital wallet for cloud-based e-commerce and that’s coming here too this year.” Data from Visa has shown that only 17 percent of the smartphones owned in the United Kingdom are equipped with the NFC technology required for the Visa mobile payments system. However, the company believes that by 2017, that figure will have climbed considerably, to reach 70 percent. It is hoped by the company that this will help to overcome some of the considerable hurdles that it has faced in its trials so far.