Tag: mobile payments

The application from the Royal Bank of Canada now supports host card emulation to broaden usage capabilities.

The mobile payments app from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has now announced the addition of support for host card emulation (HCE), in a move that it says will give Canadians the ability to use Android based smartphones to complete purchase transactions without having to worry about having the right type of SIM card or being on the correct network.

The bank has built on its existing platform, called the RBC Secure Cloud to encourage smartphone payments use.

According to RBC, this change to its app is “allowing Canadians to pay with most Android mobile phones without worrying about being on the right mobile network or having the right SIM card.” The service will give customers with virtually any Android smartphone that is NFC technology enabled the opportunity to make mobile payments at merchants equipped with Interact Flash contactless POS terminals. The smartphones will function as an alternative to using a traditional debit card.

This new mobile payments technology will be piloted over the winter months by employees of RBC.

They will be using a number of different mobile networks and types of Android device, said the bank. This trial will not yet be testing the support for MasterCard, Visa, and other types of credit card, and other types of value added service, though the bank did confirm that those would be coming “shortly.”

The RBC executive vice president for digital, payments and cards, Linda Mantia, stated that “We are committed to providing our clients with the most innovative, convenient and secure solutions to pay how they want, when they want — HCE is a critical step.” She also added that through the use of HCE, the smartphone based payments by way of the RBC Secure Cloud become “even easier to use”.

The bank first started developing its mobile payments app back in 2009, and it has gone through a number of different evolutions and additions. This addition of HCE is only the latest move by the bank, which is among the players that are attempting to act the most quickly in order to grab hold of the largest proportion of the Canadian smartphone transaction market.

New study shows that NFC payments are becoming more common among consumers in the retail sector

NFC-based mobile payments are on the rise throughout the world, according to a new study from Strategy Analytics. The study highlights the growing adoption and availability of NFC-enabled mobile devices. These devices are equipped with NFC chips, which allow them to engage with interactive marketing materials, share digital information from one device to another, and participate in mobile commerce. As these devices become more plentiful among consumers, people are using them to shop online and purchase products from physical stores.

Study predicts that NFC-based mobile payments will represent $130 billion in global spending by 2020

The study shows that NFC-based mobile payments will account for $130 billion in global consumer retail spending by 2020. This is roughly similar to 254 million mobile consumers making as many as five mobile payments every month of $9 or less. The growing availability of NFC-enabled mobile devices and services is powering this growth in the mobile commerce field. One of the latest services to launch, Apple Pay, is having a profound impact on the growth of NFC-based payments.

Apple Pay helps promote mobile spending through NFC technology

Apple Pay was launched at the end of October this year, and has since become a prominent payment platform among iOS users. The service launched with the support of a wide range of retail partners, many of whom also adopted mobile point-of-sale systems to accommodate the growing number of those paying for products with their mobile devices. Services like Apple Pay are expected to continue powering the growth of the mobile payments field.

Some retailers are unconvinced of the value of NFC technology

Retailers have been relatively slow to embrace NFC technology. The cost of adopting NFC-enabled point-of-sale systems is often seen as too high for some retailers, while others are not yet convinced that mobile commerce is anything but a passing trend. As NFC devices become more popular among consumers, these retailers may change their minds and begin supporting mobile commerce more aggressively.