Mobile and Technology

A mobile contactless payment solution, designed to enable iPhone users to make contactless transactions, such as Visa mobile payments, by simply waving the iPhone in front of a contactless payment terminal, has been launched.

Published: 20 May 2010

A mobile contactless payment solution, designed to enable iPhone users to make contactless transactions, such as Visa mobile payments, by simply waving the iPhone in front of a contactless payment terminal, has been launched.

The solution, In2Pay, has been introduced by DeviceFidelity.

The solution combines DeviceFidelity’s In2Pay microSD technology with a specially designed, patent-pending protective case that adds mobile contactless capability and works with iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.

By placing a removable In2Pay microSD into the protective case, iPhone users can take advantage of In2Pay’s secure contactless capabilities where contactless transactions are offered. They range from buying goods in retail stores and at unattended kiosks, to transit ticketing, and even securely accessing buildings and computers networks.

Trials are scheduled to start during the second quarter of 2010.

DeviceFidelity and Visa collaborated to combine Visa’s contactless payment technology, Visa payWave, and In2Pay technology to transform a mobile phone with a microSD memory slot into a mobile contactless payment device. The latest announcement extends this functionality to iPhone and has the potential to accelerate the adoption of mobile contactless payments globally, especially in geographies where merchants have already upgraded payment terminals to accept contactless transactions.

The In2Pay solution is designed to stay attached to iPhone and provides a micro USB slot for users to sync and charge their devices.

“The more than 200,000 apps on the App Store are an integral part of iPhone users’ lives,” said Amitaabh Malhotra, COO, DeviceFidelity. “With our In2Pay solution, we want to give both iPhone users and app developers the power to do even more, by putting the convenience of interactive secure mobile transactions, right at their fingertips, anywhere they are.”

The mobile payments for digital and physical goods and person-to-person payments worldwide will grow from $170 billion in 2010 to the $630 billion mark by 2014, and about $100 billion of that will come from offline purchases, according to a Juniper Research report.

According to a report filed by wired.com, with this move, Visa seeks to maintain its strong position in the credit and debit payment system, from which it extracts fees from retailers, who pay Visa about 30 cents when you enter in a PIN code or 75 cents when you sign a debit receipt. Under its payWave system, Visa requires a signature for any purchase over $25. When it comes to these iPhone payments, the fees will be set by banks. Referring to other developments, the report also highlighted that Square, from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, allows small businesses to accept credit card payments using an iPhone. Meanwhile, eBay’s Paypal allows customers to pay in stores using a simple smartphone app.

The travel sector, too, will benefit from all these developments. Last month, it also emerged that Apple is reportedly working on a new travel application, iTravel, for its iPhone. The company has reportedly filed a patent for a travel app that books flights, hotels and car reservations, as well as providing ticketless check-in using Near Field Communications (NFC), a short-range wireless technology.