14 DAY TRIAL // During the CTIA Wireless trade show, Kyocera Wireless has demonstrated a prototype handset and devices to showcase The VISA platform using NFC technology. Kyocera has teamed up with Visa in order to demonstrate how mobile payment through NFC technology works and mobile phones can be turned into a payment solution, replacing credit cards.
The platform was designed to foster collaboration between financial services and mobile telecommunications sectors and enables technologies through which banks and mobile operators can develop new mobile payment services for individual markets. CTIA visitors were able to try out an NFC-enabled Visa phone and use it for purchasing a beverage from a vending machine, by simply presenting the handset to the vending machine contactless payment spot. After the purchase takes place, the amount will either be debited from a pre-paid account or charged to a credit card, according to the user's choice.
"Through our mobile platform, Visa intends to harness the reach and 'always-in-hand' flexibility of mobile phones as a centerpiece device in consumers' lives," said Patrick Gauthier, senior vice president, innovation, at Visa International. "Kyocera Wireless provides a stylish, user-friendly CDMA device platform for these innovative payment applications that can help consumers realize the convenient purchasing power of mobile phones."
VISA has also announced collaborations with several companies during CTIA, among which was also Kyocera Wireless. The handset manufacturer will be providing several CDMA-based mobile phones that include NFC and support for the Visa mobile platform. Kyocera also aims to eliminate the need for movie paper tickets by equipping movie posters with NFC technology. The poster would transmit a code to the phone after the wireless payment, which would be read by another NFC terminal at the entrance of the movie theater.