U.S. Bank has announced that it is starting a trial in Portland and in Salt Lake City.
FlexPerks Visa cardholders in Portland, Oregon and Salt Lake City, Utah are being offered a new opportunity from U.S. Bank, in which they can try out a new mobile payments opportunity based on NFC technology.
This opportunity to try the mobile payments product is specific to individuals who have an iPhone 4 or 4S.
Though neither of these devices is enabled with NFC technology, customers who sign up for the program will be shipped a special case created by DeviceFidelity that will allow them to use their iPhones in order to make a purchase at the checkout counter of participating merchants. U.S. Bank explained that its introduction of the service is to be considered a beta release for account holders with the new FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature card (and an appropriate model of the iPhone).
The NFC technology mobile payments service will be rolled out more broadly later in 2013.
The DeviceFidelity case will provide multiple benefits to the iPhone 4 and 4S device users who receive it. It will not only enable them with NFC technology – a capability that is absent in all Apple smartphone models – but it also contains an additional battery in order to extend the length of the charge of the device.
This is not only convenient in addition to the NFC technology chip, but it also provides the user with the added peace of mind of knowing that they have better odds of completing their purchase transactions without running out of power.
According to the U.S. Bank Payment Services chief innovation officer, Dominic Venturo, “We have incorporated all of the feedback we have received from prior pilots and our customer research into this latest offering and we are excited to offer U.S. Bank Go Mobile in these two markets.”
Though DeviceFidelity is among the more obvious partners in this venture, as it is the provider of the NFC technology cases, there are others involved in this project, as well. For example, Visa will be providing its PayWave tech in order to receive the contactless payments at the checkout counters of the participating merchants. Moreover Datacard Group will be securely issuing and provisioning the accounts.
