Visa Debuts Mobile Contactless Payments Solution for Commercial Use

Visa and Visa Europe recently announced that they had introduced mobile contactless payments through DeviceFidelity's In2Pay microSD solution. The commercial availability of the product follows 18 months of technology development in partnership with DeviceFidelity.

The company stated that the mobile contactless payment solution was ready to be deployed by financial institutions in the U.S. and select markets.

“This is a historic milestone for Visa and its clients,” said Bill Gajda, head of Visa Mobile.

“In addition to issuing plastic magnetic stripe or chip-enabled payment cards, financial institutions can now consider offering their account holders a new technology that enables them to transform their existing phones into fully functional mobile payment devices,” he added.

The newly introduced mobile payment solution has been tested with major financial institutions in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Smartphone models compatible for use with the new technology include the BlackBerry Bold 9650, the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, as well as the Android-powered Samsung Vibrant Galaxy.

Additional phones will be compatible with the technology, including smartphones based on the Symbian and Windows operating systems.

Financial institutions that decide to use the technology can provide their customers with a microSD card that can be inserted into the phone’s existing memory slot to enable the device for payment.

The technology is compatible with existing contactless payment terminals already installed at retail outlets worldwide and enables users to simply hold the phone in front of a payment terminal in order to pay.

”This is a win-win for banks, merchants, wireless carriers, handset makers, app developers and consumers alike as it delivers a unique combination of consumer preferred devices, smart chip based security and application driven innovation, something that the NFC ecosystem has aspired for a long time,” said Deepak Jain, president and CEO of DeviceFidelity, Inc.

“Working with Visa and its financial institution partners, we are excited to be at the forefront of this important milestone and helping to make mobile payments a reality for consumers,” continued Jain.