Software Sales News BLOgging | Search results for "contactless"

I know VISA is behind the curve when it comes to the contactless payment technology, but now that they have stated they will implement, it creates a lot of questions. I think this is how your M-Commerce starts but is also creates a conundrum of sorts for service providers. From Finextra.com Visa launches contactless payments system in US . Visa has completed development of its contactless payments system and is ready to begin deploying chip-based payment cards featuring the technology in the US. he system, which uses radio-frequency identification RFID technology, allows consumers to pay for purchases by waving their in front of a point-of-sale pos terminal tequipped with a contactless reader. All other aspects of the contactless payments are handled in the same way as a traditional transaction. Visa says the system will make the purchase process faster and easier, while offering all the same security protections as traditional payments. MasterCard s contactless PayPass and American Express s ExpressPay are already in use. I say this is the start of M-Commerce, but not like most expect it to be. It s mobile, but it doesn t go through a service provider. MasterCard is already working with Nokia and Motorola to incorporate the contactless payment solution in some of their mobile phones. Will VISA announce they are working with a handset manufacturer too? When the contactless payment credit card gets incorporated into mobile phones, how will this affect the wireless service providers? here are many mobile marketing campaigns being introduced that allow you to send a text SMS to a certain merchant s code and the charge then goes on your cell phone account. his is mainly being used for small purchases and any type of locations where it is difficult to use a credit card taxis . I think most imagined M-Commerce to be, click on an item with your phone and purchase with your service provider account. his would allow service providers to generate revenue from data traffic. Now that the credit card companies have lowered the minimum purchase requirements , will it be easier just to wave your cellphone to make that 5 purchase than to send a text? In order for this to work, the contactless credit card reader will have to be ubiquitous. But it represents a huge opportunity for the credit card companies. What it could do though is jeopardize a major revenue source that the service providers were forecasting. If these readers are installed in a majority of retail establishments, and you can just wave your credit card phone , are you even using the service providers network? Would credit card companies have to pay service providers if they run their data through the internet or through a closed network? When the credit card is scanned, the info travels through whos network? Would I rather wave my phone to pay for every item than cash? I get miles and a detailed summary of every transaction of everything I bought for the month. Is there a fee for every one of these transactions, albeit small .05, .50 . If waving replaces cash, the transaction company that gets these fees will see some enormous volume. Will AM machines have to be retrofitted to accomodate the ability for contactless credit cards? What will this do to the company s that make the swipe only credit card machines. For places situations that don t have the ability to install one of these readers, the credit card company could create their own short code VISA 8572 . Instead of waving, you could send a text and have the purchase done this way, but that would involve using the service provider. he key to this is when credit card readers become accepted in all retail locations. hat is why I think it makes a lot of sense for a credit card company to get hooked up with a service provider.

Tags: card, credit, service, provider, contactless

I found this article of interest. Not only because how big this market is, but how easy it can be penetrated. From NWA News.com For credit card cos, no purchase is too small for plastic. For years, Marcia Levi refused to accept either credit or debit cards for purchases under 10 at her downtown gift shop, Chocolate Moose. Customers complained. She lowered the threshold to 5. Customers still complained, so two years ago she gave up on any minimum. People come in and charge 2.25 for a card or 1.75 for jelly beans, said Levi, who co-owns Chocolate Moose with her sister Barbara. It 8217;s annoying. In the past two years, they 8217;ve just whipped out the card without thinking about it, no matter how small the purchase. he persistence of her customers was no accident. Visa International, MasterCard Inc. and other card companies are working hard to make sure that no purchase is too small for plastic. Faced with a saturated market where just about everyone who wants a credit card has one, the companies have set their sights on what by one estimate is the 1.32 trillion in cash spent every year on purchases less than 5. Emboldened by consumers willing to download songs at 99 cents a pop or cell phone ring tones at 2 apiece, card companies are courting fast-food chains, taxi- cab companies and parking-meter manufacturers that have traditionally accepted only cash. Card companies tapped out the low-hanging fruit within the merchant community, said David Robertson, publisher of the Nilson Report, a payment card trade journal. Now they 8217;re going after merchants that have been reluctant to accept credit and debit cards. Visa and MasterCard 8212; joint ventures made of up of thousands of banks that issue credit and debit cards 8212; prohibit merchants from setting minimum payments. American Express, which issues it own credit cards, discourages minimums but allows them if the merchants apply the same limits to other cards they accept. Card company executives recognize that the fee structure is a deal-breaker for many of the cashbased merchants they 8217;re pursuing. When Visa stopped requiring signatures for purchases of 15 or less in 2003, it also relaxed the merchant fees it charged. As a result, Visa transactions at fast-food restaurants nearly doubled in dollar value between 2003 and 2004, Pascarella said. Another pitch is faster transactions. Swiping cards without signing receipts is much faster than fumbling around for pocket change, they say. And now, all the major card companies are experimenting with getting rid of the swiping altogether so that transactions move even faster. Combine no minimum dollar amount requirements and a contactless solution no paper, or keypads and you have created an entry to a 1.32 trillion dollar market. his will be done with a contactless credit card, sending an SMS, or waving your cellphone over a reader. It s easy, quick, hassle free, gets miles and you get a monthly statement itemizing EVERY purchase. his creates a huge opportunity for credit card companies AND service providers in my opinion.

Tags: card, credit, purchase, companies, merchant