First Data and Tyfone announce partnership for NFC payments by microSD card
By Donald Melanson 
posted March 16th 2010 1:01AM
posted March 16th 2010 1:01AM
We've already seen Visa team up with DeviceFidelity to deliver NFC payments via microSD card, and it looks like they now have some company from First Data and Tyfone, who have just announced a partnership of their own to help bring the technology to the cellphone-toting masses. At the heart of their system is Tyfone's SideTap card made by NXP Semiconductors (pictured after the break), which is not only able to function as an actual memory card in addition to a NFC payment device, but should cost about the same as a regular memory card of the same capacity as well. Using a microSD card instead of a phone with built-in NFC technology also cuts out the need for carriers or phone manufacturers to be involved, which is apparently where First Data comes in, as it will responsible for bringing the cards to consumers (in addition to dealing with retailers, carriers and financial institutions). Complete details on a rollout still seem to be a bit up in the air, but the two companies are promising that it will hit the market in the second half of 2010, with trials slated to begin mid-year.
First Data Collaborates with Tyfone to Offer MicroSD Based Contactless Payment Services
Patented SideTap™ technology leverages MicroSD card with integrated OTA capability to deliver true mobile commerce experience, without losing core memory card functionality
ATLANTA and PORTLAND, Ore. – March 16, 2010 – First Data, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing today announced an agreement with Tyfone, a provider of mobile contactless payment and secure mobility solutions. The collaboration will provide SideTap micro secure digital (MicroSD) memory cards equipped with Tyfone's patented technologies that will transform most mobile phones with a memory slot into a mobile contactless payment device.
Unlike solutions that are tied to specific merchants or financial institutions, the MicroSD card powered by Tyfone technology lets the card work like an actual mobile "wallet". The card can contain financial information and secure identification from multiple sources, such as specific retailers or financial institutions in both open loop and closed loop scenarios.
SideTap card's onboard controller that manages over-the-air (OTA) access in conjunction with the u4ia® (pronounced euphoria) mobility platform is fully expandable, allowing consumers to add new payment and identity options, creating a true mobile wallet that is as flexible as the card provider would like it to be. Through this agreement, First Data will provide merchants and financial institutions with Tyfone's patented SideTap secure memory card and u4ia mobility platform for OTA life cycle management.
The SideTap card can retain memory card functions, so consumers can continue to utilize the card as they normally would, to store photos, videos, music, documents, or other files. An embedded SmartMX security chip from NXP Semiconductors is safeguarding all transactions operated on the MicroSD card.
"The move to contactless payments is gaining traction and First Data continues to play a pivotal role in the development of this evolving technology. Consumers have a strong preference for such technology and merchants are using contactless payments to reduce waiting times, increase customer loyalty, and boost sales," said Dom Morea, First Data division manager of Mobile Commerce Solutions. "First Data chose Tyfone's SideTap Memory Card because it best serves the needs of consumers who want to use contactless payment options with over the air access but still want to retain the memory card functionality of their MicroSD card. We are excited to partner with Tyfone and bring this technology to consumers in the second half of 2010."
Over the next two to three years, analysis forecasts contactless payment transactions via the MicroSD card will be used by more than 20 million people in North America alone, at thousands of contactless payment terminals already in place. According to a September 2009 forecast by Juniper Research near-field communications (NFC) contactless payment global gross transaction value is expected to exceed $30 billion by 2012.
"We are delighted to be collaborating with First Data, a payment industry leader committed to innovations in mobile commerce. With over 60% of the mobile phones being sold today with memory slots, memory cards are widely used in the mobile eco-system, making it an ideal form factor for issuers to add contactless payment. However, consumers are unlikely to swap between memory card for payment and storage in their phones. So our SideTap cards integrate storage and contactless payments in the same memory card to enhance consumer's experience," said Dr. Siva Narendra, chief technology officer at Tyfone. "Mobile phone users are familiar with memory cards, many of which are bought directly from their mobile network operators. Tyfone in collaboration with First Data and NXP provides a win-win-win for the consumer, issuer, and the mobile network operator."
"The promise of MicroSD card-powered technology to drive contactless payments is profound, with the ability to very quickly enable mobile transactions for businesses and their customers," said Henri Ardevol, general manager, Secure Transactions at NXP. "Our partnership with First Data and Tyfone is an exhibit of the kind of innovative technology that will bring significant benefits for consumers as well as the key stakeholders such as banks, transportation companies, mobile network operators and merchants."
About Tyfone
Tyfone is a neutral infrastructure enabler for cloud computing based mobile services. Tyfone enables the next wave of secure-element-neutral mobile apps that are secure enough to store your Driver's License, Health Records, Passport, Debit, Pre-paid and Credit Cards.
Tyfone's u4ia® platform and its companion SideTap™ card is the world's first patented memory card-based mobile payments solution with integrated secure element, OTA controller and miniature contactless coil for mobile NFC payments. The technology operates in any standard memory card slot and is rapidly gaining market acceptance as a single-strategy approach to mobile contactless payments for any mobile phone. Tyfone and its partners enable a suite of services including Mobile Banking, Mobile Identity Management, Mobile Remote Payments, Mobile Retail Services and Mobile Contactless Payments. To discover why Tyfone is becoming the partner of choice for secure mobile apps to many of the world's leading organizations, please visit www.tyfone.com.
About NXP
NXP Semiconductors provides High Performance Mixed Signal and Standard Product solutions that leverage its leading RF, Analog, Power, Digital Processing and manufacturing expertise. These innovations are used in a wide range of automotive, industrial, consumer, lighting, medical, computing and identification applications. Headquartered in Europe, the company has about 28,000 employees working in more than 25 countries and posted sales of USD 3.8 billion in 2009. News from NXP is located at www.nxp.com.
About First Data
First Data powers the global economy by making it easy, fast and secure for people and businesses to buy goods and services using virtually any form of electronic payment. Whether the choice of payment is a gift card, a credit or debit card or a check, First Data securely processes the transaction and harnesses the power of the data to deliver intelligence and insight for millions of merchant locations and thousands of card issuers in 36 countries. For more information, visit www.firstdata.com.
Patented SideTap™ technology leverages MicroSD card with integrated OTA capability to deliver true mobile commerce experience, without losing core memory card functionality
ATLANTA and PORTLAND, Ore. – March 16, 2010 – First Data, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing today announced an agreement with Tyfone, a provider of mobile contactless payment and secure mobility solutions. The collaboration will provide SideTap micro secure digital (MicroSD) memory cards equipped with Tyfone's patented technologies that will transform most mobile phones with a memory slot into a mobile contactless payment device.
Unlike solutions that are tied to specific merchants or financial institutions, the MicroSD card powered by Tyfone technology lets the card work like an actual mobile "wallet". The card can contain financial information and secure identification from multiple sources, such as specific retailers or financial institutions in both open loop and closed loop scenarios.
SideTap card's onboard controller that manages over-the-air (OTA) access in conjunction with the u4ia® (pronounced euphoria) mobility platform is fully expandable, allowing consumers to add new payment and identity options, creating a true mobile wallet that is as flexible as the card provider would like it to be. Through this agreement, First Data will provide merchants and financial institutions with Tyfone's patented SideTap secure memory card and u4ia mobility platform for OTA life cycle management.
The SideTap card can retain memory card functions, so consumers can continue to utilize the card as they normally would, to store photos, videos, music, documents, or other files. An embedded SmartMX security chip from NXP Semiconductors is safeguarding all transactions operated on the MicroSD card.
"The move to contactless payments is gaining traction and First Data continues to play a pivotal role in the development of this evolving technology. Consumers have a strong preference for such technology and merchants are using contactless payments to reduce waiting times, increase customer loyalty, and boost sales," said Dom Morea, First Data division manager of Mobile Commerce Solutions. "First Data chose Tyfone's SideTap Memory Card because it best serves the needs of consumers who want to use contactless payment options with over the air access but still want to retain the memory card functionality of their MicroSD card. We are excited to partner with Tyfone and bring this technology to consumers in the second half of 2010."
Over the next two to three years, analysis forecasts contactless payment transactions via the MicroSD card will be used by more than 20 million people in North America alone, at thousands of contactless payment terminals already in place. According to a September 2009 forecast by Juniper Research near-field communications (NFC) contactless payment global gross transaction value is expected to exceed $30 billion by 2012.
"We are delighted to be collaborating with First Data, a payment industry leader committed to innovations in mobile commerce. With over 60% of the mobile phones being sold today with memory slots, memory cards are widely used in the mobile eco-system, making it an ideal form factor for issuers to add contactless payment. However, consumers are unlikely to swap between memory card for payment and storage in their phones. So our SideTap cards integrate storage and contactless payments in the same memory card to enhance consumer's experience," said Dr. Siva Narendra, chief technology officer at Tyfone. "Mobile phone users are familiar with memory cards, many of which are bought directly from their mobile network operators. Tyfone in collaboration with First Data and NXP provides a win-win-win for the consumer, issuer, and the mobile network operator."
"The promise of MicroSD card-powered technology to drive contactless payments is profound, with the ability to very quickly enable mobile transactions for businesses and their customers," said Henri Ardevol, general manager, Secure Transactions at NXP. "Our partnership with First Data and Tyfone is an exhibit of the kind of innovative technology that will bring significant benefits for consumers as well as the key stakeholders such as banks, transportation companies, mobile network operators and merchants."
About Tyfone
Tyfone is a neutral infrastructure enabler for cloud computing based mobile services. Tyfone enables the next wave of secure-element-neutral mobile apps that are secure enough to store your Driver's License, Health Records, Passport, Debit, Pre-paid and Credit Cards.
Tyfone's u4ia® platform and its companion SideTap™ card is the world's first patented memory card-based mobile payments solution with integrated secure element, OTA controller and miniature contactless coil for mobile NFC payments. The technology operates in any standard memory card slot and is rapidly gaining market acceptance as a single-strategy approach to mobile contactless payments for any mobile phone. Tyfone and its partners enable a suite of services including Mobile Banking, Mobile Identity Management, Mobile Remote Payments, Mobile Retail Services and Mobile Contactless Payments. To discover why Tyfone is becoming the partner of choice for secure mobile apps to many of the world's leading organizations, please visit www.tyfone.com.
About NXP
NXP Semiconductors provides High Performance Mixed Signal and Standard Product solutions that leverage its leading RF, Analog, Power, Digital Processing and manufacturing expertise. These innovations are used in a wide range of automotive, industrial, consumer, lighting, medical, computing and identification applications. Headquartered in Europe, the company has about 28,000 employees working in more than 25 countries and posted sales of USD 3.8 billion in 2009. News from NXP is located at www.nxp.com.
About First Data
First Data powers the global economy by making it easy, fast and secure for people and businesses to buy goods and services using virtually any form of electronic payment. Whether the choice of payment is a gift card, a credit or debit card or a check, First Data securely processes the transaction and harnesses the power of the data to deliver intelligence and insight for millions of merchant locations and thousands of card issuers in 36 countries. For more information, visit www.firstdata.com.
What's preventing someone from taking my microsd card and buying a plane ticket to South America?
@rhimbu What's preventing someone from taking my credit card and buying a plane ticket to South America?
@CL "What's preventing someone from taking my credit card and buying a plane ticket to South America?"
Usually the fact that someone asks for your ID and compares it to the name and your signature on your card.
@RAWRscary Internet Shopping?
I have not yet needed to show ID when making a purchase online, and also with the type of swipe machines they have in most stores, the teller/cashier never looks at let alone validates your card, you swipe and sign the receipt
@RAWRscary
I have, "idk, my bff jill?" written on the back of my card, yet have never been asked for ID. I've even had tellers glance at it, but too quick to catch that it wasn't actually a name.
They don't even question the drawings I make on the signature touch screen either, even one where I spent a minute and a half making a portrait of the teller herself. I even went so far as to tell her to pose for me. Not one question.
I like how it has patent written on it
@Alexpeegs
Hahaha... looks like iPhone users will be out of luck here... Thanks apple for non expandable products.. smooth move..
Awesome.. welcome to Japan several years ago.
Still kind of cool, though.
@jroff
agreed, when I was in Japan a couple months ago, everyone uses their cellphones from entering subway gates, all the way to paying at McDonalds. All you have to do is swipe your cellphone, God the U.S is so far behind. I hear that the technology has been around for quite sometime.
@Mivanx77
While I think paying by cellphone is pretty nice and convenient, I hardly think it proves that the US is "so far behind."
@Mivanx77
it's more that cellphones became ubiquitous japan far earlier than the US because it suits their lifestyle better. many people in japan use a cellphone as their computing device
@jroff
That was the only that made me regret buying the iPhone over a phone with that function; But I got over it, lol.
@think before you react
Yes, the problem is how to deploy the entire system, not how to build each sophisticated device. In Japan "cellphone" meant SIM-locked featurephone with $300+ cashbacks from operator so anyone's got the hardware want or not, and JR(trains are more used than cars in Japan) spread NFC-ready gates and terminals all around major cities. Quick and wide deployment is the key. 'Tech is merely half of it.
Anyone else click here thinking to find something about Football?
@Johnny Rockets
Which football?
Will it work if I superglue the card to my iPhone? -)
We can put credit card information on a microSD card but we can't "securely" put Android Apps anywhere other than internal memory?
Bull.
@JFlowas This is not a microSD card, this is a specialized device in microSD form factor and SDio communication to the phone (potentially allowing pin entry on the device). Think about it as a smartcard shaped like a microSD card.
Now with a regular microSD, once you install apps on it, you can put it in another phone and use the apps without buying them. Unless there is some DRM, which wasn't ready yet on Android. Duh.
@b2046806 MicroSD does have DRM included. Hence the name "secure digital" and this can allow only the device that wrote the data to retrieve it.
From wiki: The digital rights management scheme embedded in the SD cards is defined as the Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM) by the 4C Entity and is centered around use of the Cryptomeria cipher (also known as C2). The specification is kept secret and is accessible only to licensees. This DRM has not been seen "in the wild" and few, if any, devices appear to provide support for it. DVD-Audio uses a very similar scheme known as Content Protection for Prerecorded Media (CPPM).
@norp Same Wikipedia article mentions that nobody has seen that DRM in the wild, meaning another deadborn standard. Either it costs too much to license, or requires the whole card to be encrypted (that would prevent you from copying the pictures taken with the camera if you install any apps on the card).
Most likely though, it's cheaper and easier for Google to create their own app DRM scheme than to be the first in the industry to use that feature.
@b2046806 Don't "duh" me you idiot. Did you even read the article or was that above your reading comprehension level? It clearly discusses "Using a microSD card instead of a phone with built-in NFC technology" to make payments. It has storage capacity on it as well.
What I was complaining about is the same DRM technology not being used to lock down a simple android app but it's more than safe enough for our credit cards?
Let's crawl out from underneath our second grade desk.
haha now if your phone gets stolen
so does your means of payment
@inertone you could say the same thing about credit cards, so there's no difference really
@billobob I hear about more people losing cell phones, or having them stolen, than I do about credit cards.
@billobob Well you could call and cancel a card if you think about it. Unless they have a way for you to cancel your microsd?
@ThatDudeSolo
Well wouldn't the card be linked to your account, just put the account on suspension once you find out that your phone is stolen... if the thief is feeling lucky and tries to use it it will come up stolen and the authorities will be reported.
Sure, just like your wallet. However, studies show that people are more tied to and aware of where their cell phone is than their wallet. Also, all the data in the phone can be encrypted and secured with a passkey. So, when you think about it; this is more secure in ALL ways than carrying plastic embossed cards.
What can't you do with the micro-sd form factor. If it doesn't have to be powered to function you could put the micro-sd into a credit card shaped holder. Wouldn't that be a trip.
I'm going to assume it doesn't require battery power to do a transaction, but what do parents do when they want to send their kid on an errand (when they would normally hand them their credit card, explaining to sign their own name) and they don't want to part with their phone?
@CGcko
- Most people have more than one card
- It's unlikely that all your cards will be integrated
- If you have a kid, and all your payment devices are integrated, chances are, your kid has one in his phone as well - just use mobile banking to put money on kid's account? -)
Another thing to show that not including a card slot on the iphone and pre was a big mistake.
Awesome, this is good news.
I live in South Korea and people have been doing this to make normal payments and paying for tickets in public transport systems like subways for just over a decade now. It's very convenient and easy to use.
@Darkroom
Thats why you keep your cell phone in a protective case with rfid blocking.
But then it might block cell and wifi signals....ENGINEERS get to work.
Also:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/19/researchers-say-rfid-fingerprint-could-prevent-counterfeiting/
If I understand correctly. There is no actual credit card information on the card. Rather an identifier so that when used can match your number to the credit card servers and then be able to pay. So anyone that does happen to carry around an RFID reader wouldn't get anything useful. Plus the chip would have to come within an inch of the payment device so you won't accidently pay for someone else's lunch at another register,