Contactless payment acceptance will continue to grow
Part of the AVISIAN Publishing Expert Panel series to be published throughout December 2006
Mohammad Khan, President & Founder, ViVOtech, Inc.
Contactless payment has become a worldwide phenomenon. North America is leading the pack, followed by the Asia Pacific region, and then Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Recently, Latin America has also started on the contactless front with early pilots in Guatemala and Mexico. For EMV countries, the dual interface card is being issued that supports both contactless as well as contact interfaces for EMV applications.
North America: More than 18 million contactless cards have already been issued by most of the major brand name issuers in the United States, and more than 250,000 POS systems are now enabled to accept branded contactless payments in both the U.S. and Canada. We should see 40 - 50 million contactless cards in circulation, and more than 400,000 POS systems enabled in North America by the end of 2007.
Asia Pacific: There are 10 countries in this region that have started to deploy branded contactless payment solutions–Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Korea, Australia, India, and China. In Singapore, contactless deployment is being driven by the NETS contactless cash card program. Over 2 million branded contactless cards have been issued based on contactless EMV standards. There should be more than 7 million branded contactless cards issued by the end of 2007, bringing the total number of countries using contactless to 15.
Europe, Middle East, Africa: There are five countries in EMEA that have started to deploy a branded contactless payment solution–United Kingdom, France, Turkey, Lebanon and South Africa. In 2007, some of these countries could move into a commercial roll-out, while 7 - 10 additional countries could join contactless pilots or early roll-outs.
Latin America: Both MasterCard and Visa have announced pilots in Mexico and Guatemala. In 2007, we should see five more countries joining the contactless parade.
We should finish 2007 with 50 - 60 million contactless cards in circulation worldwide, and close to 500,000 POS systems enabled for branded contactless payment acceptance.
NFC Mobile Phone Payments: It is worthwhile to mention that NFC mobile phone payment pilot activity is closely following contactless roll-outs. Nearly ten NFC mobile phone payment and ticketing pilots have already been announced or are under way in the U.S., Malaysia, China, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and U.K.
By the end of 2007 I believe we’ll see a commercial roll-out of NFC mobile phone payment programs by at least two mobile phone carriers, preparing the way for major NFC roll-outs in 2008.
About the author: Mohammad Khan is President & Founder of ViVOtech. The company has shipped more than 200,000 contactless readers in 20 different countries and has been involved in many of the NFC mobile phone payment pilots, providing mobile phone payment software, Over-the-Air Issuer Servers, Service Discovery applications, and contactless readers.
Near Field Communications News and InsightExplore more developments dealing with the implementation of Near Field Communications, a short-range wireless technology that promises to revolutionize contactless identification, payment, access, and more. Click to visit NFCNews.
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