Tag: tablet payments

Information about a new system on the Windows Phone platform has just been released involving Zero-Effort.

Microsoft has just released a considerable amount of detail regarding its new system for mobile payments that could considerable improve the appeal of its Windows Phone platform, as it will give smartphone users the ability to make a purchase without any effort at all.

This will allow consumers to buy products or services without ever needing to make a move.

Many of the smartphone manufacturers and other internet giants are taking sizeable steps into the mobile payments ecosystem, such as the payWave from Visa on the Samsung Galaxy 4, and the new Google Wallet making its way through its pilot period in two American cities for several months.

While many of the big players are focusing on NFC technology for mobile payments, Microsoft has looked elsewhere.

Microsoft’s mobile payments strategy was an exploration of how a consumer could make a purchase without having to mess around with the handset at a point of sale. It has labeled the style a “Zero-Effort Payment” (ZEP).

Microsoft Research representative, Sefan Saroiu, one of the team members who was a part of the development of the ZEP mobile payments, explained that this system would give merchants the ability to provide their customers with a more personalized service. For instance, they would be able to provide frequent shopper discounts without the need for the customer to carry a membership or loyalty card.

This mobile payments system functions through the integration of Bluetooth technology, in combination with face recognition technology that is worked right into its gaming system, called Kinect. When a user who is signed up for the service enters a participating store, it is detected by the Bluetooth system. When a customer is ready to pay, the face recognition system identifies him or her.

The Bluetooth system is able to determine that the participating customer has actually entered a store, but it is the face recognition that takes it a step further by identifying the unique individual customer who is at the checkout counter. That said, while the face recognition technology is not accurate enough to provide a completely precise recognition, when combined with the Bluetooth technology, it is capable of narrowing down the individual’s potential identity very tightly.

The latest Heavy Reading report has revealed its latest predictions for the market for 2015.

The popularity of mobile payments is already growing, despite a rather slow and rocky start, and according to Heavy Reading Mobile Networks Insider, this has set the market on the path to breaking the $1 trillion mark in transactions by the close of 2015.

The industry is also at the point that it is growing quickly and is creating heavy competition even before becoming mainstream.

The mobile payments industry is now offering a vast array of different solutions for generating revenue. This latest Heavy Reading report has forecasted that within the next three years, the market will have skyrocketed to the point that its transactions will have been worth more than $1 trillion, worldwide.

The report has also predicted that mobile payments will be an important factor in the success of m-commerce.

It looked into mobile payments as a whole and came up with a number of predictions in terms of market drivers in addition to the challenges that this industry could face. It also performed a comparative analysis of the various types of solutions that have become available within this ecosystem and attempted to provide details regarding the types of trends that are likely to happen if the industry continues in the same direction over the upcoming year and a half to two years.

According to Heavy Reading report author, research analyst Denise Culver “Mobile payments have gone from being a cool-to-talk-about concept to a disruptive technology in a relatively short time frame.” She went on to say that “MNOs and payment vendors should be looking at different ways to drive demand for mobile payments, which have the potential to create significant revenue throughout the entire mobile ecosystem.”

Some of the report’s data has indicated that consumers that are already comfortable with making payments online, such as for purchasing products and services and for paying their bills, are among those who are already using their smartphones and tablets for these same tasks. Culver has predicted that as the penetration of these devices continues, it will be “only natural” that these same individuals will increase their desire and likelihood to apply those devices for transaction purposes.