HEADLINE NEWS
Canada: MasterCard and Bank Tests PayPass Sticker on BlackBerrys
A couple hundred employees of Bank of Montreal, MasterCard and Research In Motion can tap their BlackBerrys to pay with a contactless PayPass sticker attached to the back of the smartphones. While the sticker has no connection to the BlackBerry—except for the adhesive--users are able to get confirmation e-mails for each transaction sent to their phones. The confirmations include the amount of the purchase, retailer and transaction date. The bank is using MasterCard’s inControl system, which the card scheme developed with Ireland-based Orbiscom, now a MasterCard subsidiary. Technically, users can tap to pay wherever PayPass is accepted worldwide.
The indirect connection to the mobile network could mitigate some of the criticism of passive stickers—that they are little more than contactless cards with some shielding glued to the back of phones. The trial also gives Research In Motion employees some direct experience with mobile payment. RIM is evaluating incorporating NFC chips into one or more BlackBerry models, NFC Times has learned. MasterCard and its partners are conducting the sticker trial among friendly employees. Does it indicate MasterCard isn't sure the system is ready for consumers?
* Trusted Service Manager: Defined loosely to include companies or other organizations securely distributing, provisioning and managing applications, generally over the air, on secure elements in NFC mobile phones; or licensing their platforms for this purpose.
N/A: Not available or not applicable.
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