Technorati Tags: contactless, nfc, payments
This strategy, which appears to be to begin rolling out dual-interface cards next year, shows how rapidly the contactless meme is spreading. It could be that for most issuers, it’s cheaper and easier to just migrate chip & PIN to dual-interface as they are replaced naturally rather than to segment and issue in specific geographies where terminals are being installed. But as Tim Jones mentioned in his podcast, in retrospect geography didn’t work for Mondex and VisaCash, so it’s better to go for branded ubiquity (eg, all NCP car parks) than focus too tightly on specific areas. And don’t forget, it may take a while to upgrade a million POS terminals to contactless across the UK — years, in fact — but how long will it be before there are a million NFC phones (ie, personal POS terminals capable of accepting contactless payments) in the UK? With the MasterCard pilot already underway in Edinburgh, it looks as if a contactless UK is on the way.
My opinions are my own (I think) and are presented solely in my capacity as an interested member of the general public. [posted with ecto]