As part of the pilot, Motorola mobile phones outfitted with Near Field Communication (NFC) contactless chips will enable customers to make purchases using the Visa payWave feature just as they would with a contactless RBC Visa card. The functions tested in the pilot will include the secure delivery and storage of account information to the mobile phone and the security of mobile payments at retailers.

The pilot will be the first in Canada to test secure over-the-air (OTA) delivery of mobile payment software and credit card information to a customer’s mobile phone. Gemalto, who currently produce RBC Visa chip cards, will manage the transfer of credit card information from RBC to the secure SIM card in the Rogers Wireless NFC-enabled mobile phone.

Supported by Visa’s mobile payment platform, pilot activities will allow RBC, Rogers and Visa to better understand customer behaviours and their perceptions of the payment experience before the service is provided to consumers.

The Visa applications will first be made available for trial use by interested financial institutions and will allow consumers with the Nokia 6212 classic and a relationship with a participating Visa issuing bank to use their Visa account to pay for goods and services; initiate mobile money transfers to other individuals with Visa accounts; receive near real-time notifications of activity on their Visa account; and “opt in” to receive offers and discounts from merchants.

“Mobile payments and services are one of the most vibrant areas of innovation at Visa, as we seek to accelerate the migration from paper forms of payment to digital money,” said Tim Attinger, head of global product innovation at Visa Inc. “Visa is already better money – more convenient, reliable and secure than cash. Putting Visa payments and exciting new services into the NFC-equipped Nokia 6212 classic adds another layer of convenience and security for Visa account holders and Nokia customers around the world.”

The Nokia 6212 classic includes integrated Near-Field Communications chipsets (NFC) which lets the mobile device behave like a contactless payment card, where consumers simply wave it within a few inches of a special point of sale reader to complete a Visa transaction. Nokia and Visa first demonstrated NFC technology in December 2005 with the launch of the first large scale NFC trial in the United States at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta.

The plans announced today represent the next phase in an ongoing effort between Visa and Nokia to make mobile payments a reality for consumers around the globe. The long-term collaboration between Nokia and Visa has already resulted in multiple trials of Visa mobile payments enabled through NFC technology on four continents, including in the United States with Wells Fargo Bank; in Malaysia with Maybank and Maxis and most recently in London with Barclays Bank.

Visa Inc. said Thursday it’s developing mobile payment software for the new wireless phone powered by Google Inc.’s Android system.

San Francisco-based Visa said Android users will be able to receive near real-time alerts about purchases via their mobile devices, Visa said. Users also will be able to use location-based mapping technology to find ATM machines and nearby stores where they can redeem special Visa offers.

The software will be broadly available to U.S. consumers by the end of the year, starting with holders of Chase Visa cards. Visa’s announcement came two days after T-Mobile USA showed off the G1, the first phone harnessing Google’s ambition to make the Internet easy to use on the go. The T-Mobile device is schedule to hit U.S. stores Oct. 22.

[via ModBee]

The program, which is being conducted in cooperation with some of the largest North American issuers, is designed to enhance the consumer payment experience by alerting cardholders in real-time or near real-time of transaction activity on their Visa account – typically within seconds rather than hours or days. Participants will receive notification alerts from Visa through email or Short Message Service (SMS) delivered directly to their mobile devices. Alert types that Visa cardholders may choose in the pilot include: 

• cash withdrawal from an ATM machine;
• a transaction initiated cross border;
• an Internet or telephone transaction and
• a transaction that exceeds an amount that has been chosen by the cardholder.

Through the alert received via email or SMS text, cardholders can verify the transaction details, and if the transaction appears to be irregular, can immediately contact their bank to help stop further transactions on the card. The service is designed to help cardholders keep closer track of their transactions and spending levels as they go about their daily routine.

Visa began testing mobile notifications in 2007, beginning with an internal employee pilot. Mobile alerts are part of a suite of mobile services that are supported by the Visa Mobile Platform, which was created to help financial institutions tap into mobile technology to deliver enhanced products and services.