Visa and Samsung announced a global alliance that combines Visa’s expertise in payments with Samsung’s leadership in mobile device technology – an alliance that has the potential to significantly accelerate the availability of mobile payments globally.
According to the agreement, financial institutions that are planning to launch mobile payment programs will be able to use the Visa Mobile Provisioning Service[1] to securely download payment account information to NFC-enabled Samsung devices. In addition, Samsung has agreed to load the Visa payWave applet onto its mobile devices featuring NFC technology. Visa payWave is Visa’s mobile payment applet that enables consumers to make “wave and pay” contactless payments using mobile devices.
Mariano Dima, Executive Vice President, Visa Europe, said: “We are delighted to be continuing and elaborating on our long-standing relationship with Samsung. This announcement represents a partnership between two pioneering and innovative global entities to create an exciting and engaging service. A Samsung device equipped with the Visa contactless payment service is a powerful proposition and will allow us to make mobile payments a reality for people around the world.”
“Samsung has been a pioneer in NFC devices and is again leading the way in enabling NFC-based mobile payments. The partnership with Visa represents a step towards a global mobile payment platform.” said Dr. Won-Pyo Hong, President and Head of Media Solution Center, Samsung Electronics. “We believe that we have a strong value proposition for financial institutions that will ultimately allow consumer choice in NFC payments.”
Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is the global communication standard that enables mobile devices to securely communicate with a payment terminal. ABI Research forecasts that a total of 1.95 billion NFC-enabled devices will ship in 2017[2]. The Visa Samsung global alliance is a first of its kind between a leading NFC handset manufacturer and payment network that is paving the way for the implementation of large scale mobile payment programs. The initial areas of engagement that the two companies have agreed to include:
· Global Strategic Alliance
Visa and Samsung have agreed to work together to enable the next generation of Samsung mobile devices with Visa payment technology, and to partner with financial institutions to accelerate the availability of mobile payment solutions globally.
· Samsung to Connect to Visa’s Mobile Provisioning Service
In order to enable financial institutions to launch large scale mobile (NFC) payment programs, Samsung will offer banks the ability to load payment account information over-the-air to a secure chip embedded in Samsung devices, using Visa’s Mobile Provisioning Service[3] which is linked to Samsung KMS (Key Management System) – a service that creates secure data storage domains for issuers.
· Samsung Awarded Global Visa payWave License
The Visa payWave mobile applet will be preloaded onto selected next-generation Samsung mobile devices featuring NFC technology and an embedded secure element. Off the shelf, these devices are ready to be personalized with Visa payment account information – a simple step that consumers will be able to initiate using a mobile payment application provided by their financial institution.
[1] Visa’s Mobile Provisioning Services are not available in all territories
[2] Source: ABI Research, November 21, 2012 http://www.abiresearch.com/press/nfc-will-come-out-of-the-trial-phase-in-2013-as-28
[3] Visa’s Mobile Provisioning Services are not available in all territories
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