U.S.-based Citigroup will announce later this month the launch of contactless payment stickers in the United States, part of a possible national rollout, NFC Times has learned.
Citi plans to order some hundreds of thousands of the stickers for the commercial launch, NFC Times has learned. Customers will be able to attach the stickers to their phones or other devices to make low-value purchases. The Citi stickers are expected to be issued in several U.S. cities and carry a MasterCard PayPass credit application, which is accepted at about 70,000 merchant locations in the U.S., along with some taxis and vending machines, as well as locations abroad.
While the stickers are passive, that is, the payment application will not be able to communicate directly with the phone or mobile network–and Citi is ordering fewer than a million, at least for the first tranche–the launch could signal a larger mobile-payment initiative for the bank. More sticker orders could follow, as well as more sophisticated contactless-mobile payment devices, including NFC phones or contactless microSD cards, when these products become available.
I think Citi definitely needs to make some sort of transaction alerts available for the purpose of if someone is using your phone who isn't authorized to be making charges. However mobile alerts might not be very product since someone else would have your phone. I think there is some good theory behind it, there are definitely some areas that can be improved upon though as with any new technological advance. Though I will say that when my bank started allowing mobile payments through my phone where i could pay my bills with my phone that was amazing and is still so useful to me. I have faith that this new technology will find a place in people's lives just like that did.