QR codes used by MasterCard along with NFC technology

NFC Mobile Payments Mastercard QR Code PayPass MasterPass

Mobile Payments Mastercard  PayPass MasterPass QR codesThe credit card giant has announced its latest MasterPass strategy for mobile payments.

MasterCard has just announced the addition of a new digital service called MasterPass, which will give consumers the ability to use any of several different technologies, including QR codes, for making purchases with mobile payments.

This service is meant to enhance the shopping experience whether it occurs in-store or online.

The MasterPass service is meant to bring greater simplicity to shoppers who carry smartphones, by allowing a mobile payment to be made with the ease of a tap, touch, click, or even simply scanning QR codes. If successful, this could help to considerably broaden the use of mcommerce.

As the penetration of smartphones grows, it is increasingly possible to use QR codes for many purposes.

Though MasterCard still intends to use NFC technology for its mobile payments, this is available in only a small percentage of the smartphones that are currently being used, so the additional option of QR codes could help to make this service available to a broader group of people.

According to the MasterCard chief emerging payments officer, Ed McLaughlin, “Every device is becoming a shopping device.” He went on to say that “MasterPass brings together all of the ways we pay for things, from traditional plastic cards to digital wallets, and gives consumers the ability to make a payment from wherever they are and with one simple experience.”

The service is the latest evolution of the already existing PayPass Wallet Services. Those were unveiled in May 2012 and are already in their production trial with a number of issuers and merchants. This latest service will be available to consumers in countries around the world, such as the Australia and Canada, by the end of March. Soon after, it is expected that the United Kingdom and the United States will also follow.

By the end of 2013, the availability of MasterPass mobile payments through NFC technology and QR codes should also be available in France, China, Italy, Brazil, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Singapore, and Sweden. It is likely that there will be more countries added to this list in coming years.

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