Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

Snapper announces new cards, site and accessories

Thursday, July 22, 2010

New Zealand’s contactless payment provider Snapper has announced the launch of its new product range, new online top-up application and new accessories.

The new Snapper product range includes three new Snapper devices - the Mini, the Mini Jr. and the Sprat - that are smaller and easier to use than the classic Snapper card, while maintaining the same everyday contactless payment capabilities, according to the company.


The first of the new devices, the Snapper Mini, is about half the size of the classic Snapper wallet card, featuring a hole and elastic loop that allows it to be attached to a key ring or lanyard. The Mini is available as either a red adult card or in green (as the Mini.Jr) for primary or intermediate school children.

The Snapper Sprat is designed to be more rugged and durable, with a small and solid form factor. The Sprat is designed to be hung on a keyring, a schoolbag, a wallet, or a mobile phone, and can be electronically personalized so that students can use it on public transport and receive any child fare concessions and discounts they are entitled to.

Snapper is also launching the new MySnapper Top Up Application, which is free to download and allows Snapper’s 125,000 customers to load credit onto their cards online via Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

In addition, the company has released an official Snapper lanyard and a sturdy card case to protect new cards from everyday wear and tear. [end] 

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For the installation, Blackpool Council opted for the Parkeon Strada pay station terminal. This new, solar-powered terminal is equipped with contactless card readers, accepting contactless payment-enabled mobile phones and various wave and pay bank cards.

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SmartPay has announced that it will add Snapper payments, Aukland’s contactless transit card, to its retail network via the company’s PAX EFTPOS terminal range.

According to SmartPay CEO Andrew Donaldson, accepting Snapper payments is a “logical extension” for the company, which boasts New Zealand’s largest client base for mobile and hospitality payments.

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A new survey from Euro Kartensysteme shows that Germans are starting to embrace the idea of contactless and NFC payments.

Out of 1,040 Germans aged 18-59, 43% responded that they would like to make contactless payments if given the opportunity, of which 58% percent would make their payments with a debit card card, 41% with a credit card and 50% with an NFC phone.

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A recent survey conducted by Wincor Nixdorf shows that a strong majority of French consumers are interested in using fingerprint scanning technology to secure transactions.

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