Tag: nfc mobile payments

Mobile payments to reach mainstream status in 5 years

| March 11, 2013

mobile payments mastercard MasterCard is predicting that by 2018, the use of smartphones and tablets for purchasing will be widespread.

MasterCard has just released its latest predictions regarding mobile payments, which have shown that it believes that the market will become mainstream by the year 2018.

Not coincidentally, this announcement coincided with the unveiling of its new MasterPass product.

The new MasterCard MasterPass mobile payments product will be launching later on in 2013 and will allow consumers to tap, touch, and click their smartphones in order to complete transactions to make purchases. This service also supports NFC technology, tags, QR codes, and other forms of checkout within a brick and mortar shop.

MasterCard is hoping that this will help to move past the struggle mobile payments has seen until now.

Jorn Lambert, the MasterCard Europe group head for emerging payments, has stated that the hope is that after years of experiencing false starts, the habits of consumers are now changing, meaning that this year will be the start of mobile payments truly gong mainstream. He explained that “For me, the train has left the station on this. Consumer behaviour around tagging and the like is becoming more and more mainstream.”

He has been a part of the development of the mobile payments service which is predicted to be launched later this year. He explained that the company’s data is indicating that within three to five years, this will be one of the methods that consumers will expect to have available to them for making payments. He said that this will occur with or without the credit card giant, so it is vital for that company to launch this MasterPass product.

Lambert also revealed that he felt strongly about the rumors that have long been circulating about the first steps that Apple and Google will be making into the mobile payments market in Europe, and that this will be important to speeding up the pace of adoption by consumers. He stated that he would be very surprised if either of those companies chose to create its own acceptance brand and created the structures for managing the risk in the credit ecosystem that are currently developed by the industry itself.

However, he is hopeful that they will move forward with mobile payments as this will be an important catalyst.

NFC technology forum board of directors adds Google

| March 9, 2013

NFC Technology GoogleThe online search giant has now added itself to the near field communication nonprofit industry association.

Google has taken another step to underline the increasing interest it has in NFC technology by joining the board of directors for the industry association that has taken on the task of moving its use forward on a global scale.

The organization is a nonprofit that is geared toward increasing near field communication use worldwide.

The internet search giant is now a contributor to the NFC Forum, which accepted its participation as of Tuesday. Google, the owner of Android, has a considerable interest in NFC technology for a number of reasons, including its own mobile payments projects which have not been taking off at quite the pace that was expected.

Google had previously been a part of the NFC technology forum at a Principal level.

Following Tuesday, Google’s membership was upgraded to the Sponsor level at the NFC technology organization. Having reached the very top level of membership at the NFC Forum, this entitled the industry giant to a seat on the Board of Directors.

According to the NFC Forum Chairman, Koichi Tagawa, “As both a mobile operating system and NFC payment solution provider, Google brings a great deal of knowledge and experience to our Board.”

The Chairman went on to say that “The NFC Forum – and NFC users everywhere – will benefit greatly from the contributions of Google and our new members from around the world.” This is the belief upon which the organization was founded and that drives it to progress NFC technology around the world for a number of different uses.

The forum has said that it is still adding innovative companies from all over the world to its membership list and that the fact that this roster is growing at such a rate is a clear reflection of the “growing momentum for the adoption and implementation of NFC technology.” Though Google is an important addition to the Board of Directors, the organization does not feel that it will be the last important addition to the group. As adoption and awareness increases, so will the length and quality of this list.