SIX and Swisscom to develop a new payment service for consumers
SIX, Switzerland’s financial infrastructure operator, has teamed with Swisscom, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the country, in order to expand mobile payments throughout Switzerland. The two organizations will be working with banks in order to establish a nationwide mobile payments service, which may help accommodate the growing demand for such a service coming from consumers. Many people are beginning to rely on their mobile devices to shop online, and companies like SIX and Swisscom have new opportunities to engage these consumers and find success.
New service will be based on Paymit mobile application
The new mobile payments service will be based on an existing application called Paymit, which was launched by SIX through a partnership with other companies earlier this year. The application acts as a peer-to-peer transfer service that allows users to send and receive funds using information stored in their Paymit accounts. The new mobile payments service will not only support online transactions, however, as it will also enable consumers to make mobile transactions in physical stores. This functionality is expected to go live in early 2016.
Bluetooth or NFC technology will power transactions made through the service in physical stores
NFC technology is likely to play a role in the new payments service, as it has formed the backbone of mobile commerce for several years. NFC has been criticized in the past for having some security issues, but the technology is still used quite heavily when it comes to mobile payments. Bluetooth could serve as an alternative to NFC, but the mobile payments services is still in early stages of development and no technology has yet been settled upon.
Demand for mobile payments support continues to grow
Demand for mobile payments services has been on the rise in recent years. Large companies, such as Apple and Google, have already broken into this sector. For some, however, their payment services are not widely available outside of the United States. Despite this, consumers have found a wide range of mobile payments services that they have become interested in.
The new service is designed to solve “key problems” by leveraging the availability of on-campus dining establishments. Those living off campus can now take advantage of these establishments and have food delivered to their homes, using Tapingo’s extensive scheduling system. This will likely find some favor with consumers that are interested in mobile commerce, as it provides them a convenient service that caters to their specific needs.