Visa teams with DeviceFidelity for contactless payments via microSD card
By Donald Melanson 
posted February 18th 2010 1:16PM
posted February 18th 2010 1:16PM
Visa has been working on contactless (a.k.a. NFC) payments for quite some time, and it's now teamed up with DeviceFidelity in the hope of bringing them to even more cellphone users. That company makes (among other things) a contactless payment system contained on a microSD card which, when paired with Visa's own payWave system, will let you use just about any microSD card slot-equipped cellphone to make pay contactless payments at between 50,000 to 60,000 merchants in the US. Exact specifics are otherwise a bit light, but Visa says trials are scheduled to begin in the second quarter of this year.
one step closer to the apocalypse.
@thrillchuckles
Seems the apocalypse wont be that bad then.
Seriously, unless the phone has a second slot, swapping this just b4 a purchase will get tired at some point.
If they get decent storage capacity then maybe...
I don't think I would swap out my sd card for that one just to pay for something. Just a thought.
@thesafecigarette
I don't think a device of this nature will have ANY user capacity for security reasons. If your phone only has one slot and your using it for music and whatever, you better off skipping this.
The Dell Mini 5 has 2 slots and I'm thinking if you can't fill up one slot, you might like to take this Visa system out for a spin on the other slot.
This can't turn out bad, can it? I mean, no one will ever figure out how to spoof one of these and just walk through the checkout using someone else's account right?
@McHoffa .. it's designed for contactless payments i.e. only for amounts up to like $50. You also would put money ONTO the card so there is no risk of people accessing your account details.
It is NO way different to the smart cards you use for public transport. And they work fine for millions of people every day.
@McHoffa I think casher can still see your name on his screen and ask for ID and signature if necessary.
@McHoffa
Exactly.
Now you shit yourself twice when you find out somebody stole your phone...
@ImSpartacus I think most usa card has zero liability if reported stolen within 24 hours.
@taligent You mean like the Oyster Card that's been hacked?
@ImSpartacus PIN device lock + remote wipe FTW
@McHoffa
Like it's any more secure to use a credit card and sign your name?
How often has the cashier ever stopped you because the signature didn't look right? How often has a cashier even noticed you signature or gotten another to compare to?
http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit/
@fencesitter .. so what if the Oyster card has been hacked ? .. it's the merchant's problem not the user's. Even still the risk is extremely low as there is a limit on the amount of money you can put on the card.
This would be great if it also integrated some memory.
I had heard about the capability of some Japanese phones to make payments like this, so this is a good step forward.
I don't see how contact-less payments are any better unless they are customized password locked every time you want to make a purchase.
Because now, if your phone is stolen, not only do you expose all of your contacts, email and facebook accounts, and personal messages, maybe even addresses, but now your money??
@Incoherent .. how is it any different than if you lose your wallet ? .. this ISN'T a visa card replacement. It is a Visa Paywave replacement. The difference is that you put money ONTO the SD card.
another way to have our information stollen
Let's just get the chip implanted into our wrists and be done with this.
@Marc B
More likely to be on the back of one's hand or on one's forehead. ;)
@Stereotype
Forehead for me!
Oh wait that's bad huh?
Give it up, VISA.
Canada is moving, through federal law, to ban payment by magnetic stripe (seen as too easy to clone) and replacing it with Chip-and-PIN... and it's not the only country doing so. Using a chip-less card in Britain, while still possible, can be a pain in the ass already.
So we'll all end up with contactless cards that are useless abroad. Great.
Ask any fast-food worker how many people pay by tapping rather than swiping... those that do still often get told they're "swiping it wrong" since the cashiers barely ever see anyone doing it.
@taligent: payWave is Visa's brand name for contactless transactions, like MasterCard's PayPass. You do not put money onto the card - your purchases end up charged to your credit card account, so it is very much a Visa card "complement" like the keychain versions some banks offer. (You may be thinking of Visa Electron.)
dont lose your phone
@brolin (edit) dont lose your phone because you wont be able to cancel the card..
I don't see why it has to be in a cell phone. Put it in your camera, MP-3 player, e-book reader, whatever you have. I bet you could just connect a battery to it and have it work.
No, probably not. RTFA. It looks like there's an interface app that's needed (adding to the security). But that doesn't mean it wouldn't work on phone OSes that have been ported to non-phone devices. Android is the bigest that comes to mind, but Win Mobile/WinCE and possibly Symbian have non-phone counterparts.
Oh well, maybe this is another opportunity to start iPhone bashing. Must. Resist. Temptation.
this is gonna be so much fun for hackers
I'd be super interested in this...but my phone's Micro SD slot is already filled with a card for music. Maybe if my Blackberry would have memory built in (at least a couple GBs) I could ditch the card.
I like to stay the hell away from rfid. and gps is kinda sorry too. implants? not gonna get one.period.
Someone is all ready working on hacking this, for sure. A laptop, a table next to the line to the cashier and skim away.
@sofong Everyone knows RFID sniffing is the best way to steal half of the needed info from a PayWave/PayPass enabled card, same concept can probably be applied to NFC... oh wait, I forgot there's an on and off option that's found on most NFC compliant phones in Japan.
Now this I could get into.
Pull out the phone, hit the payment button, enter a simple pin or button combination, tap on payment pad. Pretty soon, all I'm going to need a wallet for in my ID.