Tag: mobile commerce news

Visa is evaluating its stake in British mobile payments firm Monitise

| September 22, 2014

Monitise could soon be free from Visa as company evaluates its stake in mobile commerce

Monitise, a British mobile payments firm, received bad news from Visa, one of its primary shareholders, this week. Visa is evaluating its stake in Monitise and may sell off its shares in the coming months. This has sent Monitise’s stock plummeting, but the firm has partnerships with other prominent companies that could mitigate the loss of Visa as a stakeholder. Monitise has managed to garner support from consumers in the United Kingdom that are interested in mobile commerce.

Visa hires JPMorgan Chase to evaluate its options concerning Monitise

Visa is currently “considering its options” regarding its stake in Monitise. In 2009, Visa took a 14.4% stake in the firm. Together, the two companies have managed to promote mobile commerce in the United Kingdom, introducing a variety of services developed by Monitise to Visa customers. As Monitise matured, Visa reduced its stake in the firm to 5.5%. Now, Visa has hired JPMorgan Chase to evaluate its options for the future.

Visa is beginning to focus more heavily on its own mobile commerce initiatives

British Mobile Payments - VisaVisa has been putting more focus on its in-house capabilities, especially where mobile commerce is concerned. The substantial growth of Monitise has lead Visa to believe that the firm is much more capable than it had been in the past, now that it has established a commanding foothold in the UK’s mobile commerce space. As mobile commerce continues to grow more prominent throughout the country, Monitise is expected to garner more support from consumers and retailers.

Apple finds support fro Visa for its ambitious Apple Pay service

Though Visa has been focusing more heavily on its own initiatives recently, the company has shown strong support for Apple Pay. The service is the first mobile payments platform from Apple, and Visa has teamed with the company to make sure its customers can use Apple Pay to purchase products from their mobile devices. Apple is new to the mobile commerce space, so the success of its new service is still uncertain.

Bad news for Apple’s mobile payments initiative

| September 19, 2014

NFC-enabled iPhone 6 will only work with the Apple Pay platform

Apple has some bad news about the iPhone 6 and Apple Pay. The famed technology company recently revealed its new device and mobile payments service, both of which have been well received by consumers. The iPhone 6 garnered praise for its inclusion of NFC technology, something that iOS users have been wanting for some time. The NFC-enabled iPhone will allow consumers to make use of a variety of mobile commerce platforms, or would have done if not for Apple Pay.

Apple is closing off the iPhone’s NFC chip to developers during the initial launch of the device

The NFC chip embedded in the iPhone 6 will only work with the Apple Pay platform. Apple is opting to keep the NFC chip closed off from developers during the initial launch of its new device and service. This is similar to what Apple did with its Touch ID biometric sensor that was introduced with its previous iteration of the iPhone. Though Apple has declined to comment on its future use of NFC technology, sources have confirmed that the company’s use of NFC will currently be restricted to Apple Pay.

NFC technology continues to make up the backbone of mobile commerce

Apple Mobile Payments - NFC TechnologyNFC technology has made up much of the infrastructure that supports mobile payments. This technology allows for digital information to be transmitted over short distances, which is ideal for mobile commerce solutions. The problem with NFC-based systems is that they can only be accessed using NFC-based devices. So, a device that is not equipped with an NFC chip cannot use a mobile commerce solution that makes use of NFC technology.

Apple has a troubled history with NFC technology

Apple has had some concerns regarding the security of NFC technology in the past. Some platforms have fallen prey to malicious attracts, some of which have exploited NFC in a way to gain access to consumer financial information. Apple may still be leery of this technology, which is why it is limiting its use of NFC to the Apple Pay platform.