Former Nokia Money crew kicks off iKaaz mobile payments, lets shops go with or without NFC
It's a big day for mobile payments. Multiple former Nokia Money veterans have formally launched iKaaz, a two-pronged strategy to phone commece where choice is the order of the day. The first components, M-POS and its accompanying Tap & Pay, are rough equivalents to familiar NFC-based services like Google Wallet that rely on an NFC tag and matching app for in-store sales. A Consumer Wallet for Enterprises occupies more familiar territory for the ex-Nokia crew: it provides a mobile account that doesn't require NFC or even an app, letting those in developing countries exchange funds through SMS or USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) if they're sporting basic handsets. Us end users will need to wait for actual implementations before we see iKaaz for ourselves, but the sheer flexibility could have us paying through our phones in some unexpected places.
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Ex-Nokia Money Team Launches iKaaz Tap & Pay Mobile Payments Platform for Enterprises
BANGALORE, October 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
iKaaz, a Bangalore-based mobile payments solution provider, launched its new iKaaz mobile payment platform for enterprises (you can view the product launch event video at http://www.ikaaz.com). The iKaaz platform broadly caters to two major segments.
The iKaaz Consumer Wallet for Enterprises allows enterprises including banks, operators and merchants to offer the convenience of mobile wallets to their customers for quick and easy payments. Soma Sundaram, Founder and CEO of iKaaz said, "The iKaaz solution can be delivered in the form of a mobile app across all types of mobile phones, as well as through SMS and USSD channels for lower-end phones that do not support apps. With the iKaaz app, account holders of a bank or prepaid can initiate money transfers and merchant transactions, customers can pay bills and subscribers of mobile / DTH service providers can recharge their accounts with just their mobile phones."
The iKaaz M-POS solution allows merchants to replace expensive POS equipment with just a mobile phone that settles payments electronically. With the iKaaz Tap & Pay solution, that leverages NFC (near field communication) technology, merchants can receive payments from customers with just a tap of a phone at the checkout terminal. This revolutionary concept aims to change the way shoppers go about their daily shopping at their favourite retail outlet. No more fumbling for cash or swiping of the card. A simple tap of a phone will complete the payment. "On one hand, customers can transform their mobile phones into a mobile wallet using a smart iKaaz NFC tag and complete payments faster at merchant locations. On the other hand, merchants can benefit by significantly reducing the transaction processing fees typically paid for conventional settlements," said Soma Sundaram.
