Enthusiasts wanting to use contactless payment services can now do so via their mobile devices. Well, First Data teams up with Tyfone to come up with the SideTap MicroSD memory card. This card may be available with Tyfone’s patented technologies that can convert majority of the handsets with a memory slot into a mobile contactless payment device.
Unlike solutions that are attached to particular merchants or financial institutions, this MicroSD card enables the card to function similar to a real mobile ‘wallet’. The card can comprise of financial details and protected recognition from numerous sources like certain retailers or financial institutions in both open loop and closed loop situations.
“The move to contactless payments is gaining traction and First Data continues to play a pivotal role in the development of this evolving technology. Consumers have a strong preference for such technology and merchants are using contactless payments to reduce waiting times, increase customer loyalty, and boost sales,” commented Dom Morea, First Data division manager of Mobile Commerce Solutions, “First Data chose Tyfone’s SideTap Memory Card because it best serves the needs of consumers who want to use contactless payment options with over the air access but still want to retain the memory card functionality of their MicroSD card. We are excited to partner with Tyfone and bring this technology to consumers in the second half of 2010.”
Dr. Siva Narendra, chief technology officer at Tyfone, stated, “We are delighted to be collaborating with First Data, a payment industry leader committed to innovations in mobile commerce. With over 60% of the mobile phones being sold today with memory slots, memory cards are widely used in the mobile eco-system, making it an ideal form factor for issuers to add contactless payment. However, consumers are unlikely to swap between memory card for payment and storage in their phones. So our SideTap cards integrate storage and contactless payments in the same memory card to enhance consumer’s experience. Mobile phone users are familiar with memory cards, many of which are bought directly from their mobile network operators. Tyfone in collaboration with First Data and NXP provides a win-win-win for the consumer, issuer, and the mobile network operator.”
SideTap card’s onboard controller that runs over-the-air (OTA) access in combination with the u4ia mobility platform is said to be completely flexible, thereby facilitating users to include new payment and identity alternatives, thus crafting an actual mobile wallet that is as elastic as the card provider would prefer it to be.
The card can sustain memory card functions, so people can carry on using the card as they usually would like storing files, photos, documents and many more. An en suite SmartMX security chip from NXP Semiconductors is believed to be protecting all transactions run on the MicroSD card.
The SideTap MicroSD card is expected to release in the second half of 2010.