MasterPass
Latest
Swarovski's VR shopping app is glittery virtual decadence
Mixed reality apps from the likes of Ikea and Edmunds already let you preview things like furniture and cars. Keen to jump on an emerging trend, Swarovski is releasing its own VR experience. The crystal maker's bizarre new app offers a virtual shopping excursion through a random home stocked with insanely overpriced items. It's as escapist as VR gets, because there's no way anyone in their right mind would drop thousands of dollars on one of these faux-luxury products in real life.
Citibank's digital wallet works in apps, online and through NFC
Citibank is partnering with MasterCard and its digital payment service, Masterpass, to add online and in-app transactions to its customers' accounts. Citi Pay users will be able to use their existing Citibank login details across online and app payments. Android users will be able to make NFC payments at wireless-enabled registers. There's no mention of Apple Pay — and that's because Apple doesn't let its payment chip parlez with other platforms.
GM will use Watson AI to recommend services on the road
Artificial intelligence isn't just being used to automate cars... it's finding a home in conventional cars, too. GM has unveiled a partnership with IBM that will see the Watson cognitive computing platform power OnStar Go, its latest in-car service offering. The AI technology will suggest stores and services based on your location, your decisions and your habits. If you're driving home from work, for example, OnStar can remind you to pick up shopping on the way back. It can also recommend restaurants when you arrive in a new city, or tell you that a store order is ready for pickup.
Samsung Pay adds new online payment options
Samsung Pay already works in a lot of places because of its canny MST magnetic tech, and the company is taking steps to make the service even more ubiquitous. Starting next year, it will work with Mastercard's Masterpass, letting more users buy online from a computer or handheld device, skip the usual form-filling and authenticate with a fingerprint. (Mastercard also made Masterpass deals with Android Pay and Microsoft Wallet earlier this week.)
Android Pay is coming to hundreds of thousands more websites
Android Pay will already let you know where it works in the real world, but soon it will be available at hundreds of thousands more places online. Thanks to new partnerships with Visa and Mastercard, Android Pay users will soon be able to zip through online checkouts at any site that already accepts Visa Checkout or Masterpass.
New York's busiest railways now accept Apple Pay
New York has been in the process of rolling out a mobile solution for the Metropolitan Transit Agency's super-busy Long Island Railroad and Metro North Railroad lines over the summer, and this week the app was updated with support for both Apple Pay and Mastercard's Masterpass payment systems. With that addition, the app appears to be feature complete: you can use it to basically any flavor of ticket for those MTA lines, including one-way, round trip and monthly passes.
MasterCard is lending its mobile payment tech to banks
MasterCard is hoping to make in-store mobile payments -- the ability to wave your phone at a terminal to buy something -- more accessible. The company is teaming up with several banks, including Citi and Bank of America, to let customers pay for stuff using bank apps on their phones. Meaning, you won't have to download a dedicated app.
Pepper the robot gets a job at Pizza Hut
SoftBank's Pepper robot has been gainfully employed in the past, but it's apparently ready for a new career in the food industry. Pizza Hut Asia is partnering with MasterCard on a trial that will use Pepper for orders and information in restaurants by the end of 2016. Once you pair your MasterPass account, you can do everything from paying for your meal to asking about the calorie count. It's not necessarily as quick as ordering directly from your phone, but a demo (below) suggests that it's fairly painless -- it's easy to see the humanoid helper taking some of the load off of Pizza Hut's staff. Let's just hope that it fares well in less-than-ideal conditions.
MasterCard announces MasterPass digital banking service, gives Australia and Canada first dibs
MasterCard's been working on new-era payment systems for some time, but now the credit corporation looks set to move past its PayPass project and roll out a service that's properly ready for the masses. By way of MasterPass, MasterCard will look to build upon what it gathered from previous efforts and use those learnings in its quest for success, with the firm being quite confident that by securing the right merchants and technology partners, it can turn the "promise of a digital future" into a reality. Furthermore, MasterCard says the MasterPass experience will be a seamless and secure one, making it easy for consumers to initiate transactions "from wherever they are" and with "any device." -- and that includes support for a variety of check-out methods, such as QR codes and, of course, NFC. Those in Australia and Canada can expect MasterPass to debut in their area next month, while US and UK folks will have to wait until later this spring and summer, respectively.
