If you’ve been reading MobileCrunch since November of 2009:
A) We love you. Thanks for sticking around.
B) You might remember that we did a post on “5 iPhone accessories we’re still waiting for” – one of which was an iPhone case that acted as a credit card, relying on the RFID tap-to-pay system already in place in many thousands of retailers.
Visa — whoever that is — is totally stealing our awesome, completely original, no-one-else-has-had-it-ever idea. And we love them for it.
This morning, Visa and DeviceFidelity Inc., issued a joint press release annoucing that they’d built — and received Apple’s much-coveted blessing in the form of accessory certification — an iPhone case that acts as a tap-to-pay Visa credit card.
Oddly, the press release has since been pulled from almost all of the sites it was published on, though we’re not sure why. Details in the release indicate that it might not have been intended for release until tomorrow, so it was presumably just a scheduling mistake. We’ve got the full text of the release below.
Just as we’d originally envisioned, the Visa case connects with an application on the handset to allow it to be password-protected. Password protection or not, you’ll still want to watch this thing like a hawk.
Market trials of the iPhone case should begin some time this summer, though it’s not clear just how limited they’ll be. If it’s not open to anyone who asks, we’ll let you know as soon as we hear any ways to wiggle into the trial.
Visa Inc. and DeviceFidelity, Inc. are working to allow Apple iPhone(TM) users to make payments by simply waving their iPhone in front of a contactless payment terminal. The new technology, developed by DeviceFidelity and certified by Apple, combines a protective iPhone case with a secure memory card that hosts Visa’s contactless payment application, called Visa payWave. The technology will work for both iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G devices.
iPhone users will be able to make Visa mobile payments in retail stores, at fast food restaurants, in taxis, during sporting events (such as at baseball games), and also make purchases at vending machines that have contactless payment terminals. Thousands of merchants throughout the U.S. have already upgraded their payment terminals to allow consumers to make Visa mobile payments. The technology will also work with a majority of smart phones that have a slot for a memory card. By simply inserting the card into the memory slot on their phone, mobile users can transform their existing mobile phones into a Visa payment device. Visa has already rolled out a similar technology in Malaysia and Japan, where consumers can make mobile payments in stores and restaurants.
The mobile payment application can be password protected and utilizes advanced security technology to uniquely identify each contactless transaction.. In addition, all Visa mobile payments are backed by Visa’s global processing network and analyzed for potential fraud in real-time. If a mobile device is lost or stolen, account holders should contact their issuer, as they would if their card was lost or stolen. The issuer can immediately deactivate the account. Market trials of the payment-enabled iPhone are scheduled to start this summer.
SATELLITE FEEDS:
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 Thursday, May 6th, 2010
1:00 PM – 1:15 PM ET 1:00 PM – 1:15 PM ET
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Downlink Freq. 3760 Horizontal Downlink Freq. 3760 HorizontalNEWS: Use Your iPhone to make Visa payments
FORMAT: B-roll and Soundbites
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Video, contact information and more available at: http://multivu.prnewswire.com/broadcast/43490/press.html
SOUNDBITES:
* Dave Wentker, Head of Mobile Contactless Payments at Visa Inc
* Amitaabh Malhotra, COO of DeviceFidelity.
* Kevin Scott, Father of threeB-ROLL INCLUDES:
* Chip and Memory Slot on iPhone
* Visa-iPhone Transactions
* Stadium shots
* Family broll
* Various Store ExteriorsVIDEO PROVIDED BY: Visa and DeviceFidelity
Contact: FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL: MultiVu Media Relations, 1-800-653-5313 EXT. 3
SOURCE Visa and DeviceFidelity