Near Field Communications Handsets and Tags, NFC Pilots and Projects

Gemalto, Mastercard to pilot new NFC mobile payment device

Monday, May 24, 2010

MasterCard and Gemalto have announced a new pilot featuring an NFC-enabled device that can be inserted into a mobile phone to turn it into payment device.

The wafer-thin device, which leverages Gemalto’s Upteq N-Flex Solution and MasterCard’s PayPass, is the first of its kind to function on multiple mobile handsets, which Gemalto says will help provide a path to “ubiquitous” support for NFC.


“This innovation is aimed at accelerating mobile NFC payments in the region. MasterCard’s collaboration with Gemalto marks an important milestone for the contactless payments industry, with mobile services expanding beyond simple payments and fueling economic connections for consumers in the global marketplace,” said Ajay Bhalla, Executive Vice President, South East and South Asia, MasterCard Worldwide.

The initial trial of this mobile payments solution just kicked off in Singapore, with DBS Bank, EZ-Link Pte Ltd, and StarHub providing local support. [end] 

Gemalto today announced it will provide its Trusted Services Management service to support the launch of NFC applications in Thailand.

Gemalto is partnering with KASIKORNBANK, the country’s second largest bank, and with Advanced Info Services, the nation’s largest telecommunications operator, to provide NFC services to Thai consumers such as touch-and-go mobile payment.

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eNational Payments, a provider of mobile and contactless electronic commerce and payment processing services, has a entered into a strategic partnership with Mocapay, enabling its merchants and retailers access to Mocapay’s secure mobile payments solution and mobile marketing engine to reach customers in real-time.

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MasterCard’s stock dropped 3.6% on the recent announcement Verizon and AT&T are partnering with Discover and Barclays to launch mobile contactless payment services, but the company says it has its own ventures in diversified payments.

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MasterCard’s PayPass has recorded 49% growth in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period last year, according to bernama.com.

MasterCard says a major contributing factor to this growth is the high level of consumer satisfaction with the contactless payment service, with 94% of PayPass customers reporting they are “satisfied” to “very satisfied.”

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Visa is teaming with Turkey’s Akbank and vendor DeviceFidelity to launch a new microSD-based contactless mobile payment system.

Akbank customers will be able to insert DeviceFidelity’s In2Pay microSD into their handsets’ memory card slots, turning them into contactless payments devices that can be used with Visa payWave terminals.

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Liza Landsman has resigned as Citigroup’s U.S. head of online and mobile banking after only a year of directing its consumer internet and mobile division, according to finextra.com.

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