Visa announced it has approved NFC-enabled smartphones from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Research In Motion for use with Visa payWave, its mobile application for payments at the point of sale.
Samsung Galaxy SII, LG Optimus NET NFC, BlackBerry Bold 9900, BlackBerry Bold 9790, BlackBerry Curve 9360 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 have been added to the list of Visa compliant payment products available for commercial deployment by financial institutions.
All the new devices certified host the Visa payWave application on a secure SIM card and feature near field communication technology, the short range communications standard that enables mobile phones to transmit payment information to a contactless payment terminal. In a statement, the head of Visa Europe’s mobile business unit and innovation strategy, Sandra Alzetta, said that now the players are in place for mobile payments to become a reality.
Follow RCR Wireless News – Americas on Twitter, Facebook and subscribe to our free periodic newsletters
Visa said that the company is working with member banks, mobile network operators and key handset partners to ensure that future payment technologies are as easy, intuitive and secure as card-based transactions are today. The company believes that the certification paves the way for mobile device manufacturers, mobile operators and retailers to partner with financial institutions to offer Visa mobile payment functionality to consumers globally.
In the certification process, Visa aims to establish global standards for mobile payments, making sure that they are aligned with existing technology and security standards for chip payment cards and can easily be integrated into the existing payments ecosystem.
Be sure not to miss
- MasterCard, Telefónica create m-payment joint venture
- Reality Check: M-commerce in Latin America
- Google could push m-payment efforts
- Business models hold back m-payment development in Brazil
- Latam lagging behind in developing mobile payment services, Gartner says
