Posts tagged nfc payment
AIRTAG thoughts on the benefits of online NFC payments
Nov 14th
A recent statement that caught the AIRTAG teams attention was MasterCard’s announcement last week of a new partnership with ING to offer online payments as part of the PayPass based platform 
in the Netherlands. PayPass more than a service but a platform, includes an online payment system, branded services and an API giving developers a tool to integrate PayPass into many different systems. MasterCard’s and ING’s PayPass online payments will offer shoppers enhanced security, the ability to apply coupons and vouchers to their purchases and receive digital receipts. According to a new study by AOL and BBDO 40% of purchases from Smartphone devices occur from home, the couch or anywhere else. Now MasterCard will offer those shoppers an even easier way to pay from anywhere. With PayPass online payments, there are two possible Customer Journeys;
Customer Journey #1: Merchandise selected, Payment method selected, Shipping details are entered and Pin is entered (The phone will supply EMV compliant cryptogram to communicate directly with the retailers payment terminal)
Customer Journey # 2: Shopping is started on a tablet, Products selected, Billing information entered, QR Code is sent. The user would then tap their Smartphone on the tablet to make the payment, connecting the PayPass app directly with the merchants shopping cart
This new pilot is part of MasterCard’s initiative to offer “converged payments experiences, in-store, online or a mobile device.” (MasterCard Press Release) With the approach of the holidays consumers now more than ever are mobile shopping and showrooming for convenience and to maximize savings. It’s great to see MasterCard proactively responding to consumer behavior changes by offering easier ways to pay when Mobile Shopping both in-store or anywhere else.
AIRTAG is happy to announce the launch of the AIRTAG Kit.
Oct 18th
AIRTAG is very excited to have announced yesterday, the launch of the AIRTAG Kit; a set of smart tools designed to make the deployment of NFC Mobile Payment applications easier and more accessible than ever. We have been working together with MasterCard for more than a year with a goal of providing something truly relevant and useful in today’s Mobile Payment marketplace. The AIRTAG Kit, is meant to be used alongside MasterCard’s recently released Mobile User Interface Software Development Kit (MMPP UI SDK), and together they are the best way to develop your Mobile PayPass™ app.
What exactly is in the AIRTAG Kit?
The Kit includes, the latest generation NFC Samsung Galaxy S3 with 3 pre-installed white label apps including a wallet, a USB Contactless Card Reader, 5 UICC samples, 2 demo tags, and a 1 year membership to the Developer Program.
Tell me more about the Developer Program?
First, let’s take a minute to introduce the AIRTAG team. The technical geniuses behind the operations at AIRTAG HQ includes 50+ experts in NFC, mobile app development, mobile marketing and mobile engineering. They develop Mobile applications, online platforms and NFC in-store readers and devices for brands like McDonald’s, MasterCard, Carrefour, Reebok, Dior, Casino, G20, Orange, NRJ Mobile and many others. A team with more than 6 years of experience. They are as expert in the field as it gets.
Through the Developer Program included in the AIRTAG Kit, you will have the ability to ask our own AIRTAG developers your additional questions in the AIRTAG Kit forum and get support for issues you may have with the UI SDK or the AIRTAG Kit. The Developer Program also provides additional resources; user guides for the MMPP UI SDK and the AIRTAG Kit, tutorials, manuals, payment scheme support and support for additional Smartphone platforms as they become available. These resources provided in the Developer Program are used by our own AIRTAG developers to build mobile payment apps. Where else would you be able to get ongoing support from a group of NFC Mobile Payment experts at such a low cost?
AIRTAG’s CEO and Co-founder Jérémie Leroyer had a few words to share with Venture Beat’s journalist John Koetsier, on the AIRTAG Kit and our ongoing partnership with MasterCard. “The Airtag kit is the second part of our partnership with MasterCard, and contains all of the hardware and software needed to build and test PayPass apps, including resources for the developer community.”
The AIRTAG team would be very happy to answer any additional questions that you may have, so please get in touch, by visiting www.airtagkit.com or by following us on Twitter: @airtag
Learn more about MasterCard’s Mobile UI SDK
Wider retailer adoption could be the force to drive NFC payments
Jul 30th
“Consumers will happily make NFC mobile payments if the opportunity arises.” (NFC Payments Report, 2012)
The NFC Payments Report 2012, gives some interesting perspective insight leading up to the predictions for mobile payments in 2012. 
After interviews and surveys with more than 3,000 consumers and 500+ industry experts and executives, conclusively 2012 should be the “tipping point” for NFC mobile payments. However, the anticipated growth can only become a reality with a fair amount of pull-together from all players in the equation because a few essential pieces are still missing.
Consumers
According to the report; 2/3 of consumers interviewed from both the US and UK, would not hesitate to make an NFC payment, if the service was readily available. Getting additional consumers on board; according to the experts, is constitutive of all parties (including retailers) relaying information strongly emphasizing the wider benefits of mobile payments.
Industry Experts
At this point the industry experts are already convinced. Executives believe that mobile payments will be a strong source of revenue and that mobile payments will be able to deliver more effective up and cross selling.
Retailers
According to the report, the seemingly most difficult aspect of mobile payment adoption is the convincing of retailers. Building customer enthusiasm is more a standard marketing procedure whereas retailers want to see tangible benefits and results e.g. investment return.
Although retailer “partnerships are still not cemented,” they are absolutely necessary for wider success. This may well be dependent on four factors;
- Cost of the required POS technology
- Visible Investment return
- The cost of participating in the “wallet”
- Intermediary charges
In proximity shops where paying as quickly as possible with an NFC device would be most visibly convenient; newspaper stands, fast-food restaurants, grocery stores and coffee shops; independent retailers will likely be more hesitant to adopt a service that may lower profit margins. A detail that still needs to be given considerable thought is the intermediary fees in those situations.
Although early 2012, has already seen a lot of traction from leading retail brands in their uptake of mobile payment strategy as well as the implementation of NFC capable cash software; further adoption by large scale retailers and retail chains experts argue, is still an important factor that will continue to push the whole industry forward.
Read more about the NFC Payment Report 2012
Is the world ready for NFC?
Jun 4th
A recent quarterly survey conducted by the eDigital Research organization in March 2012 surveyed 2,078 UK residents, both Smartphone and non-Smartphone owners, on their general knowledge and NFC technology usage.
The survey had a number of stimulating findings indicating that mainly there are still a high percentage of people who are not aware of what NFC technology is and those who may have heard of it may not be entirely sure how to use it.
The results specify that mainly it is the responsibility of those within the technology industry and retailers to work together to improve the general public’s knowledge of; what exactly NFC payments are, how they work, security features and the overall benefits; as ease and convenience were seen as the primary benefits while an astounding 32% of people surveyed did not see any benefits at all.
The good news is that those who do have an NFC enabled Smartphone and have tried the technology are likely to use it again. The survey found that “89% of those who had made a mobile contactless payment say they are likely to use the technology again in the near future,” (eDigital Research) demonstrating that the benefits of NFC payments are visible and will keep users coming back.
From a customer’s perspective as to what can be done to improve the situation three key recommendations were made:
- More information: 10.34% of consumers feel that more information is needed to help increase awareness.
- Better/Tighter security: 22.8% of respondents do not feel confident enough that there is enough security surrounding Contactless Mobile Payments.
- More pay points: 8.75% of respondents felt that the lack of available places where they could use Contactless Mobile Payments was holding back the technology. To improve, retailers and technology providers need to look at integrating more pay points around stores, as well as branching out to all locations.
What really is crucial in these findings is that the lack of knowledge consumers have about NFC payments in general most likely greatly impacts the number of people who are unsure whether NFC payments are secure or not. “This time around it’s up to retailers and technology providers to push for this next revolution of the market. People need to work together to increase consumer awareness, and in turn, settle fears and tackle key issues, such as security.” (Derek Eccleston, head of research at eDigitalResearch)
Read more about the results of the survey from eDigital research
Learn more about NFC payment technology including; security features, usage, benefits and opportunities
Samsung prepares for NFC with Samsung Galaxy III, Google Wallet being rethought
May 29th
The shortcomings of the Google Wallet have been a recent discussion topic of bloggers and other publications and according to Bloomberg, Google is now reconsidering its Wallet strategy. 
The adoption of the Google Wallet system has been less than expected and now Google may be considering using an incentive to entice carriers to adopt the Google Wallet. This strategy could even include perks such as the sharing of Google Wallets revenue’s with telecom providers in the hopes of increasing the implementation of the service. (Engadget)
According to Bloomberg, Google is also considering moving towards the adoption of in store terminals, a feature of NFC payments that other E-Wallet providers have been working on since the get go.
But, while Google considers its strategy of approach for NFC payments, more cell phone manufacturers such as electronic giant Samsung are making the preparations for NFC payment technology with their own systems in mind. Samsung recently confirmed that the next flagship phone, the Galaxy S III will contain an embedded chip to support NFC payments.
The features of the Galaxy S III include; enhanced security features and both proximity and online payment systems, which could all be part of Samsung’s own Wallet strategy.
The system would likely support the already established NFC payment systems such as Visa’s V.me and the MasterCard PayPass, according to NFC Times.
Although the Galaxy III will contain an NFC chip, whether the embedded chip will be activated or not is still in question. In markets such as the US, the telecom providers may have the final say as to whether or not the feature will be enabled for use.
Samsung’s progress raises the discussion of whether other mobile manufacturers will adopt their own Wallet systems for NFC payments, perhaps in a way that can be better integrated with other existing NFC payment technology.
Read the Full Press Release from Samsung about the features of the Samsung Galaxy S III.
Read more about Bloombergs comments on the Google Wallet
Carrefour City launches mobile shopping service with NFC solution, ‘Mon Panier’.
May 18th
Carrefour City has launched a mobile shopping service ‘Mon Panier’ that is based on the retail NFC solution, Airshop by Airtag. 
This service is up and running at the St. Lazarre Carrefour City location in Paris, the first of several stores to be equipped with the ‘Mon Panier’ retail NFC solution, in the next few weeks.
‘Mon Panier’ offers ample convenience’s for Carrefour City’s customers, who can now place an order and pay for purchases from the convenience of a Smartphone.
All you need to do is:
- Place the order from your Smartphone
- Within two hours the Carrefour City staff will have prepared the order
- Upon store arrival, just go to the ‘Mon Panier’ kiosk to identify yourself by either tapping your NFC mobile device to the kiosk screen with a built in NFC reader, or by placing the phone beneath the QR code reader on the bottom right of the kiosk
In addition, the ‘Mon Panier’ service, has no minimum purchase amount and no delivery or pick-up fees! It is a 100% free service!
Read more about the Carrefour City ‘Mon Panier’ shopping service.
Mastercard responds to Visa’s digital wallet with the Mastercard PayPass.
May 11th
“On May, 7 2012 Mastercard announced PayPass Wallet Services, a new global offering for banks, merchants and partners that will make it faster and easier for their customers to make purchases in stores or online by allowing them to securely pay with a simple click of the mouse, touch of the tablet screen or tap of the smartphone,” according to Mastercard’s press release.
The wallet is said to be launched in the third quarter in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia first, before the PayPass technology is extended elsewhere around the ‘globe’.
The differentiating characteristics of Mastercard’s PayPass from Visa’s V.me wallet is that it enables banks and merchants to customize their own digital wallets, so that Mastercard’s branding is not the primary focus of attention.
Additionally, Mastercard’s contactless and online payments will be launched under one brand whereas Visa is going to offer two brands, V.me wallet and Visa payWave.
Because over spending is a concern for PayPass users, Mastercard’s wallet will offer a variety of pro-consumer services including; account look-up before purchases, spending control and alerts and delivery of targeted offers coupons and loyalty programs.
Read the full press release about the features and benefits of the Mastercard PayPass
Read more about the difference between Visa V.me and the Mastercard PayPass
La clé des BMW sera peut-être aussi une carte de crédit
Feb 2nd
BMW étudie la possibilité de transformer la clé du véhicule en support sécurisé grâce à l’ajout d’une interface NFC et d’un secure element.
LG ambitionne d’équiper les commerçants en terminaux NFC
Feb 1st
L’écosystème du NFC se développe de plus en plus. Aujourd’hui c’est au tour d’LG Electronics d’annoncer préparer des terminaux de paiement NFC dédiés pour les entreprises que le fabricant pourrait intégrer dans ses équipements électroniques grand public.