Fergie's Tech Blog

Visa, Nokia Launch Phone Payment Project

Personally, I think this just might be a major security snafu just waiting to be exploited. One thing for sure -- I won't be using it. In fact, I won't use any proximity "tap-and-go" e-money devices, at least until security issues are addressed in a major way.

An AP newswire article by Eileen Ng, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

Visa International and Finnish cell phone maker Nokia Corp. jointly released the world's first credit card payment pilot system in Malaysia, allowing consumers to shop and pay using their mobile phones.

The "Mobile Visa Wave Payment Pilot" project marks the first step in plans to turn mobile phones into electronic wallets for consumers, officials said.

It builds on the Visa Wave smart card technology that uses radio frequencies to eliminate the need to swipe credit card into a reader. Customers wave cards in front of the reader to make payments, similar to "touch and go" cards used in transport systems.

posted by Fergie @ 4/27/2006 06:44:00 AM