Visa to Turn Android, Nokia Phones Into Credit Cards

Tag : NOKIA
Android and Visa
Developing applications for the Android platform is central toVisa's mobile application push, the company said. The credit cardcompany's mobile applications will enable owners of mobile devicesrunning the Google operating system to receive notifications abouttransaction activity on their accounts; obtain offers from a widearray of merchants; and use Android's built-in location-basedtechnology to map nearby merchants to redeem Visa offers as well aslocate ATMs participating in the Visa network .
Chase Visa cardholders will have the first crack at the new mobileapplications. Visa, however, said it will work to make the servicesavailable to account holders of other financial institutions. Thecredit card provider is also developing a payment application toenable Android device owners to make mobile payments at retaillocations around the country and over wireless networks.
In its deal with Google, Visa is clearly banking on some level ofsuccess for Android, Cundiff said.
"[The Android platform] is still very new. There's just one phoneout there that T-Mobile announced earlier this week, so that's about it. It's not asthough Android has taken over as a viable platform. But, Visajumping in at this early stage is definitely a leadership role thatthey need to take," he explained.
Consumers come out on top with both services because they addlayers of protection against identity theft and credit card fraud,according to Cundiff.
"The ability to detect fraud and fraudulent transactions or evenprevent it before it happens -- involving the consumer in thatprocess is paramount. What Visa is doing is really working at thetransaction level -- has huge implications for mitigating identitytheft and fraudulent transactions. It also gives consumers peace ofmind," he pointed out. Mobile Money
Visa will debut its payment and payment-related services on theNokia 6212 Classic starting in October. Consumers will be able touse their handsets to make contactless payments, remote payments,and money transfers to other Visa account holders; they will alsoreceive near real-time alerts and notifications relating toactivity on their credit card accounts.
Integrated Near-Field Communications chipsets (NFC) built into theNokia 6212 make the contactless payment technology possible. To payfor a purchase, consumers will simply wave their handset within afew inches of a special point-of-sale reader to finalize thetransaction.
"Nokia is doing a lot of near-field communication stuff. But contactless payment has to develop a bit [before it iswidely adopted by consumers]," said Tole J. Hart, a Gartner (NYSE: IT) Research analyst.
Credit card companies have to build use cases where it's moreconvenient than using cash or a debit/credit card. With a mobilephone, it should help out because people carry their cell phoneseverywhere, he told the E-Commerce Times .
"This should help that, but there are other things that are moreinteresting that it can be applied to, like purchasing things fromthe Internet on a mobile phone. Receiving discounts is relevant,and the location thing will work. They are [reasons] for customersto adopt this. They will only do so if they are easy and moreconvenient to use.
"They have pulled this all together in a nice package, and that's agood thing for them," Tole concluded.