NFC-enabled computers and the future of online shopping
13 September, 2012
category: Contactless, NFC
At the Intel Developer Forum, MasterCard announced its intention to partner with the chip-maker to provide NFC-enabled laptops, enabling them to act as credit card terminals.
The initiative would allow for an online shopper to simply tap their card or phone to the computer to complete a transaction. In effect, this means that shoppers would no longer have to store credit card data online or enter the entire card number for each purchase.
Though still in the early stages of development, the duo provided a short demo for those in attendance wherein a contactless transaction was conducted by tapping a credit card on a laptop trackpad.
Provided that NFC-enabled laptops are a viable solution, they could save people time, discourage fraudulent purchases resulting from hacked accounts and spare shoppers the pain of updating information when they receive a new card.
All signs seem positive about the MasterCard/Intel partnership as NFC payments are already being supported by a number of companies, and adoption is quickly gaining momentum— changing the payment landscape more by the day.