Mobile payments using credit cards launched for first time in Canada

Mobile Payments

Mobile Payments

CIBC and Rogers Communications have unveiled this smartphone friendly service.

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and Rogers Communications have unveiled the first mobile payments program using credit cards in Canada.

The service will become available at participating Tim Horton’s coffee shop locations.

Beginning on November 16, the new Mobile Payments App will be available to CIBC credit card and Rogers Wireless customers, who have certain BlackBerry smartphone models. To start, it will be possible to use the service through the BlackBerry Bold 9900 or the Curve 8360.

The mobile payments will later be available on other types of smartphones.

Later rollouts will include smartphones that use Android and Windows 8. The reason that these are the primary focus and that iPhones have been notably absent from the mobile payments program, so far, is that the connection works with NFC technology. Though there are a growing number of Android, BlackBerry, and Windows phones that are equipped with this technology, the latest releases from Apple have not included NFC enabled devices.

The NFC is used in combination with the Rogers suretap service, which allows a smartphone to be used as a mobile wallet. According to the Rogers vice president of emerging business, David Robinson, this allows consumers to buy everyday products in stores by holding or waving their smartphones over a contactless mobile payments terminal.

Robinson explained that “If the merchant accepts a contactless card, they’ll be able to accept this payment transaction.”

David Williamson, the senior executive vice president of CIBC, as well as its head of retail and business banking, said that the new mobile payments system is highly secure, with four security levels in place. In fact, he stated that “The SIMS that we’re bringing out have the highest level of security known.”

Whether or not that provides enough mcommerce security for the customers who can use it has yet to be seen. The fear of the theft of personal and financial data is one of the largest concerns that have been expressed by consumers regarding the adoption of mobile payments. This worry will need to be assuaged before it becomes widely used.

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