MasterCard fires up mobile payment trial in Canada
Hey, here's an idea: let's trial phone-based NFC payment systems. Then, let's trial them again. Then let's trial them a few more times -- but let's not actually launch them on a wide scale so that they're usable, and let's certainly make sure they're not marketed heavily enough to garner widespread consumer interest. That seems to be the attitude financial institutions, manufacturers, and carriers are taking in North America, where countless tiny trials have popped up and died across the US over the past couple years; now, Canada gets in on the action thanks to MasterCard with an adaptation of its PayPass system. The trial, which only (and inexplicably) runs from now until November, loops in Bell Mobility will allow users to pay for $1.29 red blobs sold in sterile, all-blue convenience stores where ghastly silhouettes roam in the background simply by tapping their issued handsets against MasterCard's already installed PayPass terminals. Can we please just get a trial that turns into a commercial product this time, or is that too much to ask?
[Via MobileSyrup]
