Visa Europe and Wireless Dynamics Inc. (Wireless Dynamics) today announced that they have developed a mobile contactless payment solution that will bring Visa contactless payments to iPhone users across Europe.
iPhone users simply attach the Wireless Dynamics iCarte accessory, available through their bank or mobile operator, to their iPhone and download the companion Visa Mobile application for iCarte App from the App Store. The iCarte accessory contains an antenna and an embedded Secure Element where the Visa mobile card is safely stored. This “card”, in turn, works with an app from the App Store to enable payments on the iPhone. Once the Visa mobile card is activated, consumers can start making purchases by simply launching the app and touching their iPhone on any contactless-enabled point of sale terminal across Europe, without the need to enter their PIN*.
The iCarte accessory is designed to equip iPhone users with the tools they need to buy goods using mobile contactless technology from a growing number of European retailers. Visa Europe’s first deployment has been launched in collaboration with Yapi Kredi bank and Turkey’s largest mobile operator, Turkcell. Yapi Kredi customers equipped with a Turkcell mobile plan will be the first who can purchase directly from their iPhone at 40,000 contactless point of sale terminals in Turkey using their iCarte payment accessory. The product is also being used in the UK with Visa staff in London with partners FIS, a leading provider of prepaid platforms, and Coventry Building Society. To further commercialise the accessory, Visa Europe will engage its member banks and partner mobile operators in Italy, France, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK, all of which have rapidly maturing contactless payment infrastructure.
Sandra Alzetta, SVP, Head of Innovation at Visa Europe said in the press release: “It’s clear from trials across Europe that mobile contactless payment is a strong and compelling customer proposition. Visa recognises that consumers who use smart phones like iPhone are more likely to be early adopters of advanced payment technology. Given that the availability of a wide range of mobile devices supporting contactless services remains a key hurdle for take-up, we are overcoming this by bringing the capability to the iPhones already in their pockets.”
Ambrose Tam, President and CEO at Wireless Dynamics commented in the press release: “Working with Visa Europe to commercialise our iCarte accessories is a leap forward in increasing the number and types of mobile payment solutions. We’ve worked hard to design and build a feature-rich and appealing product for our partners and iPhone users across Europe.”
European consumer research** conducted by Visa Europe in Italy, Poland, Turkey and the UK has confirmed strong consumer demand for mobile contactless payments with 41 per cent of respondents stating that they “definitely would” or “probably would” sign up to use Visa mobile payments. Critically, this percentage increased to 57 per cent when directed at iPhone users, which demonstrates that the device is the ideal cross-over of target mobile users and consumers with positive attitudes to new payment technologies. The research also indicated that 87 per cent of iPhone users surveyed would be willing to use an accessory to enable their device for mobile contactless payments.
The Wireless Dynamics iCarte accessory is compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPhone3G on iOS 3.1 or higher. The iCarte Secure Element can be associated with multiple Visa accounts. More info here.
** The research was conducted by Incite Marketing Planning during the months of September and October 2010. Almost 4200 people were interviewed in four different countries: Turkey, the UK, Italy and Poland.
Source: Visa Europe
I can’t see how this is more convenient. Takes less time to pull my CC out of my wallet and swipe than finding the app and launching it
love this idea
No looking for a card or foregetting one. All ways with you at all times.
Look forward to having on my iPhone .
Another feature begging to be integrated at the hardware, software and user interface level into the iPhone.
Begging… on its knees… Steve can you hear it? :^)
@MacDust
Since it is contactless, you may not even have to pull the CC out of the wallet. Just touch the wallet to the reader. I’ve done that with contactless fare cards for transit.
DOA! Apple will kick Visa ass on this in iPhone 5. Dont screw with Jobs
Yeah, right. Like I’m gon a go through all that just to pay for something. It takes 2 seconds to pull a credit card out of my wallet.
I think that having an attachment added on to the iPhone is a non-starter. It seems very likely that the next generation of the iPhone will have this sort of functionality integrated within the case and will doubtless have a business model that is more user friendly than anything that Visa might offer.
I can’t see any sane person rushing to get on board with this when there is such a high probability that in a few weeks we will be seeing just how elegantly Apple rises to this challenge.
I’m not extending the butt on my phone. It looks like crap.
Apple is already working on Near Field Communications (NFC) transactions within iOS. You won’t have to attach a “Wireless Dynamics iCarte accessory” or download the “Visa Mobile application for iCarte App.”
This is a desperate attempt by a credit card company to perpetuate their cash cow. You currently receive less than 1% interest from your savings account and not much more from government bonds. Yet credit card companies often charge 15-20% interest, and some closer to 30% interest on top of the transaction fees. Credit card rates soared in the early 1980s when long term interest rates climbed above 13%, and they never came back down.
“This is a desperate attempt by a credit card company to perpetuate their cash cow. You currently receive less than 1% interest from your savings account and not much more from government bonds. Yet credit card companies often charge 15-20% interest, and some closer to 30% interest on top of the transaction fees. Credit card rates soared in the early 1980s when long term interest rates climbed above 13%, and they never came back down.”
So don’t pay interest! I keep my payments up-to-date monthly – have NEVER paid interest – plus they give me $1200 a year back, just to use their cards. Simple.
Too complicated to be of any real use.
KingMel gets it.
An attachment only works if it can act as a case, and/or a battery, like the Mophie.
You would be surprised how many in Europe and in Asia are already using their phones to pay for most things. In Japan, for instance, most people don’t use credit cards. I went into a restaurant and people were paying meals by resting their phones on docks. It’s a cultural thing, and people just prefer cash over credit cards. Japanese that I have met, just didn’t care for credit cards.
Same in France for me. Very few places used credit cards, debit cards at the most, but even that is not guaranteed. N. European nations already had phones to pay for vending machines. Many Asian countries, like India, pay many of their utilities etc. via phones these days. The credit card untapped market is huge, far larger than the average Americans may realise.
I’ll wait for Apple’s solution.
Knowing that there are a bus full tech journalist waiting to pounce on Apple if they make the smallest mistake in security means I will hear about ANY problem with the new technology.
If Sony makes the same mistake, no one will care.