Tag: mobile security

Secure Element Manager has been approved by Visa for the BlackBerry 10

Leading technology company, and creator of the BlackBerry platform, Research In Motion has received approval from Visa for its NFC-based mobile commerce platform, known as Secure Element Manager. The platform is designed to be used with the company’s next generation BlackBerry 10 device. Thus, owners of the BlackBerry 10 will be able to make mobile payments for products thanks to the device’s support of NFC technology and the approval for the system granted by Visa.

Platform may help with security concerns

Visa has shown a great deal of interest in mobile commerce in recent months. The company has become one of the major players in this emerging industry through its various partnerships and the services it provides mobile consumers. The Secure Element Manager helps address one of Visa’s most significant concerns when it comes to mobile commerce: Security. As such, the platform has won the support of Visa, which will allow its customers with BlackBerry 10 devices to use their accounts to make mobile payments.

Security continues to be a problem for mobile commerce

Security has long been an issue that has made mobile commerce somewhat unpopular. NFC technology itself does not boast of any latent security features. As such, many believe that the technology can be easily exploited. If NFC technology is exploited, a consumer’s financial information may be at risk of theft, creating a serious problem for those involved in mobile commerce. Until recently, there have been few efforts to bolster the security of mobile commerce.

Secure Element Manage meets Visa expectations

The Secure Element Manager not only helps keep the financial information of consumers safe, it also acts as a management platform for various mobile commerce systems. The platform meets the strict requirements that Visa has adopted concerning mobile commerce systems, making it one of the few systems that Visa is willing to support. Moreover, it is the only mobile commerce platform for the BlackBerry that has the full support of Research In Motion.

The service is expected to launch near the beginning of 2014 through eight participating financial institutions.

The Payments Council has just released their latest news for smartphone users in the United Kingdom, which revealed that in the early part of 2014, they will have mobile payments services available that will allow them to send money or complete transactions via text message.

It is hoped that this will be able to rev up the smartphone transaction sector within that country.

According to the BBC, the entire process will begin as the eight banks that are involved in this mobile payments venture ask their clients whether or not they would be willing to opt into the program in 2014.

The goal is to use text messaging to make mobile payments more accessible and convenient to users.

The participating banks feel that using text message mobile payments will provide a simpler process than having to transfer money in the traditional way, as an account number will not need to be provided. Instead, a phone number will be used, which is much easier for the user to remember and is considered to be more manageable.

Though this is will be the first time that a service of this nature is launched in the United Kingdom, the technology is not brand new. M-Pesa is already offering text based mobile payments in a number of different African countries. This is because it is available in the majority of cell phone devices and it allows funds to be transferred quite quickly.

The Faster Payments service will be managing the mobile payments of this nature in the U.K. In 2012, that company processed 800 million banking transactions, which suggests that they will be capable of handling the necessary volume.

It is expected that the users who will find the text mobile payments to be the most appealing will be those who have feature phones as opposed to smartphones, and who are therefore not able to load wallet and mcommerce apps. Also predicted to enjoy this technology will be individuals who want to use their devices but without having to manage their account numbers in order to do so.