Visa trails mobile coupons and rewards

Visa USA HQ Trials Mobile Phone Payments

Computer Business Review

Nov 21 2006 : Visa USA is to launch a mobile phone payments trial this month at its San Francisco, California headquarters. The pilot follows on from Visa's consumer trial of Near Field Communications (NFC) mobile phone payments at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

The San Francisco trial will involve around 500 Visa employees in California. Trial participants will receive mobile payment coupons and rewards via text messages and graphic and bar code images direct to their handsets. According to Visa, the coupons and rewards can be redeemed at on-site cafes located at its corporate campus. Visa says the pilot is expected to lead to larger-scale public trials over the next year which will test both mobile payments and value-added applications.

"With more than 225 million mobile phone users in the U.S. alone, it's only natural for consumer payments to extend to the mobile device," Elizabeth Buse, executive vice president at Visa USA, says in a statement. An online survey carried out by Visa USA recently found that 61 percent of respondents between the ages of 25 and 34 are interested in making mobile phone purchases. The survey also found that over half of US consumers carry their mobile phones at least 75 percent of the time and that 64 percent of consumers are interested in receiving coupons via their mobile handset.

The Atlanta trial, which was launched in December 2005, ended in September. During the trial, 150 Atlanta Thrashers and Atlanta Hawks season ticket-holders with both a Chase-issued Visa credit card and a Cingular wireless phone account made payments at ViVotech contactless readers at concession stands throughout the arena. Also, Atlanta trial participants downloaded content to their Nokia 3220 mobile phones such as ring-tones, screensavers and video clips of favorite players. The Nokia phones were equipped with NXP's NFC chips, Visa says.

Related Links
www.visa.com
www.jpmorganchase.com
www.NXP.com
www.vivotech.com
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Visa contactless cards - ePaynews

Visa UK Plans Contactless Rollout in 2007

Visa

Nov 24 2006 : Visa UK says its member banks have agreed to roll out contactless cards across Britain, by the end of next year, starting in London.

The rollout will enable cardholders to purchase low-value everyday items, such as their morning coffee and newspapers, by waving a contactless card over a card reader in participating stores, Visa says. The contactless cards will contain EMV chip-and-PIN technology as well as an RFID contactless chip. Cardholders will not be required to enter their PIN for contactless transactions that are under a preset amount. However, if the number of contactless transactions carried out by a cardholder exceeds the card's daily floor limit, the card will need to be swiped in a reader and the PIN entered. "With over 75 percent of all UK cash payments being less than £10 (USD19), the introduction of contactless payments will play a major role in encouraging the use of cards over cash for low-value transactions," Sandra Alzetta, Visa Europe's Senior Vice President, Consumer Market Development, says in a statement. Visa says contactless payments are particularly suited to retail environments such as fast food outlets, newsagents, parking facilities and vending machines, all of which have a high cash turnover and where rapid checkout times are desirable. Research carried out by Visa indicates that UK consumers are likely to appreciate the convenience and speed that contactless cards offer as an alternative to cash, the association says. Visa and its UK members are currently holding discussions with retailers to win their support in advance of the contactless rollout. Further details of the launch plans are expected to be available by March 2007, according to Visa.

Related Links
www.visaeurope.com
MasterCard Announces European Contactless Trials
RBS Says Contactless EMV Trial a Success

NFC on ePaynews.com

Issuer-Operator Disputes Delaying NFC Phone Rollout Says Analyst

Nov 15 2006 : Disagreement between card issuers and mobile operators as to control over payment facilities embedded in Near Field Communications (NFC) enabled handsets is holding back deployment of the technology, says ABI Research senior analyst Jonathan Collins. He tells epaynews that key issues to be resolved are the location of card payment information on the handset, activation of the payment application, and fees payable to mobile operators by card companies.

MC's Pay Pass roles out to cabs - ePaynews.com

Philadelphia Cabs Accept Contactless Payment

Nov 16 2006 : VeriFone and MasterCard have announced the first taxicab implementation of 'tap 'n go' contactless cards in the U.S The two companies have installed MasterCard's PayPass contactless payment technology in 250 Philadelphia taxis, along with VeriFone payment systems.

Amp'd & Obopay partnership - MoCoNews

» Amp'd Launches Mobile Payments
Related Topics: Amp'd -- Permalink - Comments (1) [by james]

Amp'd has signed up Obopay to offer a mobile payments solution. From the press release: "Amp'd Mobile device users will be able to send money to any mobile phone number and instantly receive money from any Obopay user. The service also comes with an Obopay companion prepaid debit MasterCard that lets users conduct retail transactions at more than 5.5 million retail locations and 396,000 ATMs in the U.S. using their Obopay account funds. With Obopay's account management features, users can also refer friends, check balances, get money owed from other mobile users, and view transaction histories." The two companies are also offering a $25 bonus to people who sign up for an Obopay account.
For me, the interesting part will be when people will be able to send small amounts of money to each other, or a company selling mobile content, without losing a whopping slice of it to the telcos. (Press Release PDF)