New
Orleans – MasterCard unveiled its
technology at
CTIA Wireless 2012 to make it easier for people to buy online, whether through
a smartphone, PC or Internet-connected TV.
The
technology can also be incorporated in smartphones equipped with Nearfield
Communications (NFC) for tap-and-go payment of purchases made at
brick-and-mortar retail stores.
By
2016, the majority of smartphones will support NFC, enabling them to be payment
devices, said MasterCard executive Gary Flood during a keynote speech. “We want
to partner with you,” Flood told the wireless industry in promoting his
technology for use in smartphones.
With
PayPass Wallet, consumers won’t have to enter 16-digit credit card numbers or their
shipping and billing addresses after they click on a PayPass Wallet icon on
participating websites, said the MasterCard president for global products and
solutions. Unlike competing services, consumers could use a single PayPass
Wallet account to make payments via any of their existing credit cards,
including American Express and Visa.
Eventually,
the technology will make its way to NFC-equipped smartphones so that consumers can
pay for a purchase by tapping their smartphone on PayPass-enabled point-of-sale
terminals, which are compatible with contactless MasterCard credit cards.
Here’s
how the technology would work: A PayPass icon would
appear on standard and mobile-optimized websites. Consumers would click on the
icon and enter a user name and password, automatically entering a billing and
shipping address and making the payment via a credit card account set as the
default account.
So
far, Barnes & Noble and American Airlines have agreed to put the PayPass
button on their websites, the company said.
Ed McLoughlin, who heads up MasterCard’s
emerging payments efforts, said the technology could also be used to pay for
taxi rides via NFC.
