Visa working with Nokia, Android to deliver more mobile payments services
26 September, 2008
category: Contactless, Financial, NFC
Visa contactless payments, money transfers and more are being added to Nokia’s next generation NFC-compliant handsets beginning in October while at the same time Visa also announced plans to link with Google’s new Android-powered handsets to make some mobile payment services available, first to Visa Chase cardholders.
The Visa applications for the Nokia 6212, will first be made available for trial use by interested financial institutions and will enable consumers with a relationship with a participating Visa issuing bank to use their account to pay for goods and services; initiate mobile money transfers to other individuals with Visa accounts; receive near real-time notifications of activity on their Visa account; and “opt in” to receive offers and discounts from merchants.
The first set of services that Visa is planning to develop for Android will enable Chase Visa cardholders to receive notifications to their mobile devices about transaction activity on their accounts; obtain offers from a wide array of merchants; and use the built-in location-based technology developed by Google to quickly map nearby merchants where they can redeem Visa offers and locate ATMs that accept Visa.
During an introductory period, Visa mobile services that will be developed for the Android platform will first be offered to Chase Visa account holders. Following this initial launch phase, Visa plans to work with additional card-issuing financial institutions to extend availability of its mobile services for Android to their Visa account holders. Visa is also developing a payment application that will enable consumers with Visa accounts to make mobile payments in retail locations nationwide, or while on the go, over wireless networks.
“By developing these mobile services for the Android platform, Visa has taken a major step toward achieving our goal of combining two of the world’s most powerful and ubiquitous consumer innovations, electronic payments and mobile technology,” said Elizabeth Buse, global head of product at Visa Inc. “Through this effort, U.S. consumers will, for the first time, be able to download Visa mobile service applications directly to their handsets.”
The Nokia 6212 classic includes integrated NFC chipsets which lets the mobile device behave like a contactless payment card. Nokia and Visa first demonstrated NFC technology in December 2005 with the launch of the first large scale NFC trial in the United States at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta.
This represents the next phase in an ongoing effort between Visa and Nokia to make mobile payments a reality for consumers around the globe. The long-term collaboration between Nokia and Visa has already resulted in multiple trials of Visa mobile payments enabled through NFC technology on four continents, including in the United States with Wells Fargo Bank; in Malaysia with Maybank and Maxis; in Taiwan with Chinatrust Commercial Bank and Chunghwa Telecom; and London with Barclays Bank.