Tag: mastercard mobile commerce

Weve teams with MasterCard to accelerate adoption among businesses

Weve, an upcoming mobile commerce platform in the United Kingdom, has announced that it has partnered with MasterCard. This partnership is meant to make the launch of Weve throughout the UK smooth as well as accelerate the rate at which merchants adopt the platform. The United Kingdom is quickly becoming one of the most attractive mobile payments market in the world. More consumers are using their mobile devices to shop online, claiming that shopping from a mobile device is more convenient.

Weve aims to provide organizations with platform that can effectively engage consumers

Weve was introduced last year after it had won the approval of the European Union. The platform represents a joint venture from Vodafone, EE, and O2, three of the largest telecommunications organizations in the United Kingdom. Weve is meant to serve as an all-encompassing platform that banks, retailers, and advertisers can use to engage mobile consumers. Such platforms are becoming more important as consumers begin to rely more heavily on their smartphones and tablets in daily life.

Partnership with MasterCard may attract more attention to mobile commerce platform

In partnering with MasterCard, Weve may be able attract the attention of banks and other organizations more quickly. Banks and retailers typically invest in third parties to develop mobile commerce platforms for them, but these platforms are often quickly developed and offer limited features to consumers. Through Weve, businesses will have a well-developed platform they can use to engage consumers more effectively and provide these consumers with a favorable experience.

Weve may not win favor with iOS consumers without NFC devices

Weve anticipates that it will see widespread rollout in the United Kingdom beginning in 2015. The platform is expected to be used as part of more than 300,000 point of sale systems in the country. The problem, however, is that the platform is based on NFC technology, meaning that those without NFC-enabled mobile devices, such as those with iOS devices, will not be able to make use of Weve. This could limit the potential acceptance than Weve receives in the United Kingdom.

According to industry leaders, the technology is now starting a wave in the country.

According to some of the latest data out of Canada, mobile payments, such as money transfers, are starting to pick up quite quickly, as the industry reaches the close of its second year within the country.

Contactless transactions, specifically, are starting to take hold inside that country.

Though the case on the other side of the world, in India, is showing a massive hesitation to adopt mobile payments technology, the exact opposite appears to be happening in Canada. The true strength in this part of the industry appears to be in contactless technology – NFC technology. Tap and go is catching on and Canadians are starting to become accustomed to it.

MasterCard has now ranked Canada as the second most prepared country for mobile payments.

The ranking from MasterCard placed only Singapore ahead of Canada in terms of being prepared for the widespread adoption of mobile payments. It assigned a score of 0 to 100. Canada scored a 42, whereas Singapore received a score of 45.6. The global average was 33.2.

That said, despite the widespread adoption of smartphones in India and its tremendous population, it is still lagging behind the world at a score of only 31.5. This ranking was the result of the data accumulated by MasterCard in a survey that involved the participation of mobile networks, banks, and governments. It revealed that in the Mobile Commerce Clusters score, Canada has fared very well.

At the same time, aside from mobile payments, the survey also identified a number of other trends. For example, credit and debit cards are continuing to grow their share of the overall industry over other methods such as cash and checks. Approximately one in three total transactions are done by cash, and card transactions are picking up considerably within the sound financial system of that country.

Smartphone penetration is also considerable in Canada. That, along with the cooperation of the government, mobile networks, and banks, has meant that this market is increasingly prepared to take part in mobile payments on a mainstream scale.