Tag: nfc mobile payments

This year will make it much easier for consumers in Australia to make purchases using smartphones.

Telcos in Australia are giving a significant kick to their intentions to bring mobile payments to consumers throughout the country so that they will be able to use their smartphones or tablets to pay for products or services at a store’s checkout counter.

This could be the first step toward making credit cards obsolete within the country.

Although mobile payments are a move that has been in the works for several years and very little action has actually been seen until very recently. Even the most recent steps have not been enormous, and the term “contactless payments” remains unknown to the majority of consumers, even among those whose devices are capable of the transactions.

Though the contactless mobile payments concept has great potential, it has been failing to gain traction.

The idea behind mobile payments is quite simple. It involves using a smartphone or tablet that is either waved over an enabled reader at a point of sale in a store, or tapped against it. This automatically transfers the funds necessary for making the purchase from the user’s credit card or bank account, into the account of the store.

The primary barrier faced by this type of mobile payments is the fact that only a small percentage of smartphones are actually enabled with the necessary NFC technology (near field communication) that allow these transactions to occur. This was held back even further by the release of the iPhone 5 by Apple, which shocked the mobile world when those chips were notably absent.

Vodafone and Telstra believe that this year will mark a difference in this trend. They believe that with many more NFC technology enabled devices entering the marketplace, it will represent a brand new opportunity for mobile payments to take off.

According to Dr. Hugh Bradlow, the chief technology officer at Telstra, “It’s been promised for a long time, but by next year many devices on the market will incorporate near field communication.” He went on to explain that in the mobile payments marketplace, “NFC has been a slow burn, but it will likely become entrenched next year and we plan to be a big part of that.”

Qualcomm continues to show strong support for NFC technology

Qualcomm, a leading developer of computer chips and mobile technology, has announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Atheros, has introduced a new NFC solution that could have promising implications for a wide range of mobile devices. Qualcomm has been showing increasing interest in NFC technology recently. The company recently upgraded its membership within the NFC Forum, a trade group working to provide standards for the use of NFC technology. The company sees a great deal of promise in NFC technology that extends well beyond mobile commerce.

NFC continues to be linked to mobile commerce

NFC technology is well known for establishing a strong foundation for mobile commerce. Indeed, most mobile commerce initiative rely heavily on the technology in order to facilitate business with consumers. The technology is capable of turning a mobile device into a payment platform, thus allowing consumers to participate in mobile commerce. NFC technology can be used for much more than mobile transactions, and Qualcomm has been working to make the technology available to other industries.

New chip offers promising features

Qualcomm Atheros has developed a new NFC solution that consumes much less energy than traditional NFC chips. The chip, called the QCA 1990, is compatible with most cutting edge mobile technologies and complies with the standards of the NFC Forum. The QCA 1990 is designed to consume as little energy as possible, thus it does not present any significant strain on the battery of a mobile device. Qualcomm notes that the chip will also help make wireless communications and data exchange more efficient. This includes mobile payments.

Chip to see limited use throughout 2013

Qualcomm plans to make the QCA 1990 available to a limited number of customers by the first quarter of 2013. This will help the company determine if any significant changes need to be done to the chip to prepare it for wider commercialization. By the third quarter of 2013, Qualcomm expects that the QCA 1990 will be in the hands of large companies around the world.