iTWire - 'Pay by phone' gets new meaning with Visa trial

'Pay by phone' gets new meaning with Visa trial

by Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Page 2 of 3 Few technical details were provided of the Telstra/NAB/Visa arrangement, though we do know that the trial involves an application downloaded to the phone's SIM card. The application can be disabled in the event that the phone is lost. The overseas trials mentioned above employed an additional chip fitted to the phone that talks to the merchant terminal using near field communication. The technology has a range of around 4 cm, so there is little chance of interception, and the data is encrypted. The Visa Wave contactless credit card system (also known as Visa payWave) has been in use in Asia since 2004 - what's relatively new is building the functionality into mobile phones instead of embedding it into what is otherwise a normal credit card. Customers as well as retailers are expected to benefit from reduced transaction times. Contactless payments are said to be two to three times quicker than cash transactions. "Our customers will be able to walk in to a store, select goods to purchase, wave their phone over the reader, see the transaction approved immediately and leave without having to open their wallet," said Lisa Gray, NAB chief operating officer, retail banking. If the trial is well received by consumers and merchants, there's more to come in addition to opening the facility to all comers. See page three for details. << First page < 1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

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