Commonwealth Bank, Samsung, and MasterCard form new partnership
Australia’s Commonwealth Bank has partnered with MasterCard and Samsung Electronics Australia in order to provide consumers with new mobile commerce services based on NFC technology. The partnership is meant to further encourage the adoption of mobile commerce throughout the country as well as increase the focus on Samsung’s line of NFC-enabled devices. NFC devices are needed if consumers want to make use of services that are based on this technology. Thus far, Samsung is one of the very few device makers that offers NFC-enabled smartphones.
NFC losing ground with mobile payments
NFC technology is losing its popularity in the mobile commerce field. The technology has begun winning acclaim as a data sharing tool. NFC devices can be used to easily share pictures, video, and other such digital information. In mobile commerce, NFC has served as a prominent foundation for several years, but the technology has recently come under fire due to security issues that have emerged. Moreover, the lack of NFC-enabled devices has made the technology relatively unpopular when it comes to mobile payments.
Australia proves to be an active market for the mobile space
Australia has become a very active market when it comes to mobile commerce. The Commonwealth Bank has been experimenting with mobile payments for some time and has put a focus on encouraging the adoption of mobile shopping and mobile banking among consumers. Backed by MasterCard and Samsung, the bank expects to begin providing consumers with access to mobile wallet services that will be both convenient and easy for them to use.
Commonwealth Bank customers to have access to new services
Through the new partnership, Commonwealth Bank customers with Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones will be able to use the Tap & Pay service, which allows them to make secure payments from any of the 220,000 MasterCard PayPass terminals that are located throughout Australia. These consumers will also be able to make mobile payments to the 1.6 million merchants that make use of the PayPass system.
