Tag: mobile wallet

Mobile payments from BlackBerry launched in Indonesia

| March 3, 2013

Mobile Payments Blackberry IndonesiaThe company formerly known as RIM has now debuted its transaction service within the country.

BlackBerry has just announced that it has become the latest player within the rapidly growing and highly competitive mobile payments environment, as it has now started an Indonesian pilot launch of its BBM Money service.

This service will allow the device users to transfer money through the use of an instant messenger service.

By using BBM Money, BlackBerry device users are able to create accounts through those gadgets so that they will be able to make mobile payments in real time to contacts on their BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) account, or to other bank accounts of non-contacts. They will also be able to purchase prepaid SIM cards and additional airtime for their devices by way of this new service.

This new mobile payments service is the result of a partnership with PT Bank Permata in Indonesia.

It is the PT Bank Permata that is issuing the BBM Money mobile payments accounts through this trial of the service. BlackBerry has also pointed out that it is using bank grade security measures in order to ensure that users can enjoy transactions that are safe and secure. Among those measures include encryption, passwords, limits, and monitoring.

The device manufacturer, based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, decided to launch its service for the first time in Indonesia, partly because of the massive popularity of BlackBerry devices within that country. In fact the brand currently boasts 240 million users within the Indonesian marketplace.

According to a media release from the company which quoted T.A. McCann, the vice president of BBM and social communities for the organization, “BlackBerry leads the mobile and smartphone market in Indonesia, where BBM is extremely popular with our customers.” McCann went on to say that “BBM Money, which uses BlackBerry’s BBM service, further evolves the BBM experience to move from real-time chat to meaningful and convenient real-time engagement.”

This makes the Canadian smartphone manufacturer and technology developer the very latest in the mobile payments environment. It is joining many other large players, which just recently included Samsung and Visa, which have partnered together for their own contactless method.

Mobile payments partnership opens between Samsung and Visa

| February 28, 2013

Mobile Payments Samsung and Visa partnershipThe two companies have come together to help to turn smartphones in a digital form of wallet.

Samsung and Visa have just announced that they will be working together to help to speed up the worldwide adoption of mobile payments services, by combining their expertise and technology.

This new combined effort will be based on NFC technology that is embedded in certain Samsung devices.

Called the Visa Mobile Provisioning Service, is designed to allow financial institutions to take advantage of transactions using mobile payments account information that is securely downloaded through the use of NFC technology.

Furthermore, the Visa payWave mobile payments applet will be loaded onto Samsung NFC devices.

This will automatically turn smartphones into a mobile payments option for the consumers who purchase them. According to the global head of product at Visa, Jim McCarthy, in a statement, “Samsung devices enabled with Visa payment functionality will no doubt be a powerful product offering — especially in markets where paying with a mobile device is becoming commonplace.”

McCarthy also added that the heart of ensuring that mobile payments become widely available worldwide is to provide financial institutions with a secure way of offering these millions of smartphone carriers with a way to safely store and transmit their account data. He explained that “that is exactly what Visa and Samsung are ready to deliver.”

This is not the first time that Samsung and Visa have worked together on mobile payments initiatives. They previously came together in May 2012 to take part in the trial that was held during the Olympics in London, when the limited edition Galaxy S III smartphone was distributed among the athletes for use during the games. Those phones had the payWave technology built in and allowed the users to register so that they could use the device to for a digital checkout at certain retailers in the city.

The next version of the device, the Galaxy S IV, will have the Visa mobile payments technology built right into it for use with its NFC chip. It is expected to be unveiled on March 14 at a press event.