MasterCard, ING Trialling Yet Another Way To Pay On Mobile: Browse On Your Tablet, Buy Via Your Phone

As if there wasn’t enough going on in the mobile payments space already, what with NFCdongleswallets and cloud apps. Now payments company MasterCard and ING Group have teamed up on a payment trial that mixes mobile and Internet payments to support shopping scenarios involving a mix of devices. One scenario involves using a mobile device to purchase an item the shopper is looking at on their PC or tablet. The trial is also considering a second scenario whereby shoppers might want a simple click-to-buy option when shopping online on their phone.

The technology makes use of the Secure Element on the phone to support “a comparable level of security” to in store purchases, according to the two companies. It builds on MasterCard’s existing NFC-based PayPass technology for mobile payments but does not utilize NFC to function — instead, in one scenario, a shopper browsing for items on a PC or tablet could make a payment by scanning a QR code with their phone.

This is how the two payment scenarios being trialled are described

The solution being tested in the trial supports two scenarios: first, shopping and paying on a phone where the consumer is able to select merchandise they want to purchase, select their payment method, provide their shipping information and enter their PIN to authenticate the transaction. An EMV-compliant cryptogram is supplied by the phone directly to the merchant’s payment gateway for processing. In the second scenario, the consumer is able to start their shopping on a PC or tablet, and then complete the payment step on their phone using a secure QR code that connects the Mobile PayPass application in the user’s phone securely to the merchant’s online shopping cart.

The companies note that both payment scenarios would allow for coupons and vouchers to be redeemed in real-time by shoppers, while e-receipts would be delivered upon successful payment.

The holy grail here appears to be spontaneous, one-click shopping (Amazon are you listening?) regardless of the device combo a consumer is using — by removing the need for fiddly manual inputing of payment details or having to be registered and logged in to the sites being browsed.

Commenting on the trial, Mark Buitenhek, Global Head of Payments & Cash Management at ING Group, said in a statement: “This innovative mobile payment product enables ING to offer our customers a one-click-buy experience. The trial allows us to explore which new type of mobile payments products and technologies will meet our client’ needs.”

Jorn Lambert, Group Head, Emerging Payments, Europe, MasterCard Worldwide, said the trial aims to develop new ways for consumers to pay for goods and services. “This trial builds on our recently announced PayPass Wallet Services and our vision of delivering to consumers and merchants a secure, converged payments experience in-store, online or on a mobile device,” he noted in a statement.

The trial kicked off in mid-October but has only just been announced. It’s due to run through the first quarter of next year.