wireless payments
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Samsung is searching for an answer to Apple Pay
Samsung is edging closer to debuting its own take on wireless payments, according to a report from Recode. Following the launch of Apple Pay earlier this year, Samsung has reportedly been trying to license technology from startup LoopPay to create a competing service. Although the site's anonymous sources agree that LoopPay and Samsung have been in talks, one says the deal "could still fall apart," even though another says a prototype payments system has already been created.
In Ticketing increases options for venues and promoters, as long as they're using iOS
Converting a cellphone into a credit card reader is nothing new, but transforming one into a box office for live events could shake things up a bit -- or, at least provide a bit of friendly competition for NFC-based alternatives. In Ticketing has just launched InHand Box Office software for use at live events. The company claims to be one of the greener ticketing outfits out there, and plans to turn your iPhone or iPod touch into a device capable of wirelessly processing payments (and printing out paper receipts, unlike Square or PayPal Here) at independently run concerts or festivals. Potentially reducing time spent in line and preventing congestion at the entrance translates into more people inside the venue, and using your phone instead of a difficult-to-establish credit card merchant account should reduce the friction in throwing such an event. As long as you tend to carry the appropriate iDevice with In Ticketing's new app installed, you can marry it to that iAPS Sled you see above to create your own personal CC processing machine. The only issues? Convincing Gotye to play your house party instead of Coachella next year, and that awkward lack of support for Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone.
Visa and DeviceFidelity working to bring mobile payment functionality to iPhone
This ain't the first rodeo for Visa and DeviceFidelity, and if we had to guess, we suspect it won't be the last. Just a few short months after teaming up to bring contactless payments to any mobile with a microSD slot, the two are at it again -- this time aiming for the oh-so-tantalizing iPhone market. Reportedly, the tandem is toiling away in an effort to concoct a protective iPhone shell with a secure memory card that hosts Vista's contactless payment app, payWave. As it stands, the product would only function on the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, leaving upcoming iPhone 4G / HD / Barhopper buyers out in the cold. As with any other payWave-enabled handset, this would allow users to simply tap and go when checking out, a process that our pals over in Japan have had down for centuries now. If all goes well, market trials of the payment-enabled iPhone are set to begin this summer, or approximately six months too late for anyone to seriously care.
Visa teams with DeviceFidelity for contactless payments via microSD card
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.
