Visa Europe and Wireless Dynamics Inc
bring contactless payments to
iPhone
Visa Europe mobile contactless payment solution brings
the convenience of mobile payments to iPhone users across
Europe
London, 25 January
2011 – Visa Europe and Wireless Dynamics Inc.
(Wireless Dynamics) today announced that they have developed a
mobile contactless payment solution that will bring Visa
contactless payments to iPhone users across Europe.
iPhone users simply attach the Wireless
Dynamics iCarte accessory, available through their bank or mobile
operator, to their iPhone and download the companion Visa Mobile
application for iCarte App from the App Store. The iCarte accessory
contains an antenna and an embedded Secure Element where the Visa
mobile card is safely stored. This “card”, in turn, works
with an app from the App Store to enable payments on the iPhone.
Once the Visa mobile card is activated, consumers can start making
purchases by simply launching the app and touching their iPhone on
any contactless-enabled point of sale terminal across Europe,
without the need to enter their PIN*.
The iCarte accessory is designed to equip
iPhone users with the tools they need to buy goods using mobile
contactless technology from a growing number of European retailers.
Visa Europe’s first deployment has been launched in collaboration
with Yapi Kredi bank and Turkey’s largest mobile operator,
Turkcell. Yapi Kredi customers equipped with a Turkcell mobile plan
will be the first who can purchase directly from their iPhone at
40,000 contactless point of sale terminals in Turkey using their
iCarte payment accessory. The product is also being used in the UK
with Visa staff in London with partners FIS, a leading provider of
prepaid platforms, and Coventry Building Society. To further
commercialise the accessory, Visa Europe will engage its member
banks and partner mobile operators in Italy, France, Poland, Spain,
Switzerland, Turkey and the UK, all of which have rapidly maturing
contactless payment infrastructure.
Sandra Alzetta, SVP, Head of Innovation at
Visa Europe said: “It’s clear from trials across Europe that mobile
contactless payment is a strong and compelling customer
proposition. Visa recognises that consumers who use smart phones
like iPhone are more likely to be early adopters of advanced
payment technology. Given that the availability of a wide range of
mobile devices supporting contactless services remains a key hurdle
for take-up, we are overcoming this by bringing the capability to
the iPhones already in their pockets.”
Ambrose Tam, President and CEO at Wireless
Dynamics commented: “Working with Visa Europe to commercialise our
iCarte accessories is a leap forward in increasing the number and
types of mobile payment solutions. We’ve worked hard to design and
build a feature-rich and appealing product for our partners and
iPhone users across Europe.”
European consumer research** conducted by Visa
Europe in Italy, Poland, Turkey and the UK has confirmed strong
consumer demand for mobile contactless payments with 41 per cent of
respondents stating that they “definitely would” or “probably
would” sign up to use Visa mobile payments. Critically, this
percentage increased to 57 per cent when directed at iPhone
users, which demonstrates that the device is the ideal cross-over
of target mobile users and consumers with positive attitudes to new
payment technologies. The research also indicated that 87
per cent of iPhone users surveyed would be
willing to use an accessory to enable their device for mobile
contactless payments.
The Wireless Dynamics iCarte accessory is compatible with iPhone
4, iPhone 3GS and iPhone3G on iOS 3.1 or higher. The iCarte Secure
Element can be associated with multiple Visa accounts.
Notes to Editors
* The card is fitted with a security measure
of an aggregate limit for contactless transactions, which is
automatically re-set once your PIN is entered. Periodically
cardholders will be asked for their PIN to ensure that the card
remains with the genuine owner. A PIN may also be required for
higher value purchases.
** The research was conducted by Incite
Marketing Planning during the months of September and October 2010.
Almost 4200 people were interviewed in four different countries:
Turkey, the UK, Italy and Poland
About Wireless Dynamics Inc.
Wireless Dynamics Inc. is a leading provider
of NFC and RFID products. The company’s SDiD™ and iCarte™ solutions
enable NFC, RFID read/write and contactless payment functions for
mobile devices such as Smartphones, PDAs and iPhone. Headquartered
in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Wireless Dynamics also provides
wireless product and application designs services. For more
information, please visit www.wdi.ca or call +1 403-250-1818
About Visa Europe
In Europe, there are more than 400 million
Visa debit, credit and commercial cards. In the 12 months ending
June 2010 those cards were used to make purchases and cash
withdrawals to the value of €1.4 trillion. 11.2% of consumer
spending at point of sale in Europe is with a Visa card, and more
than 70% of that is on Visa debit cards.
Visa Europe is owned and operated by more
than 4,000 European member banks and was incorporated in July 2004.
In October 2007, Visa Europe became independent of the new global
Visa Inc., with an exclusive, irrevocable and perpetual licence in
Europe. As a dedicated European payment system it is able to
respond quickly to the specific market needs of European banks and
their customers - cardholders and retailers - and to meet the
European Commission’s objective to create a true internal market
for payments.
Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around
the world. In addition, Visa/PLUS is one of the world’s largest
global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in over
200 countries.
For more information, visit http://www.visaeurope.com/