MASTER CARD TO HELP BANKS OFFER MOBILE APPLICATIONS

MasterCard to Help Banks Offer Mobile Applications


MasterCard Inc. has introduced a provisioning service that it says will make it easier for banks to set up contactless payment applications on mobile phones.

Many observers say mobile payment systems that use near-field communication technology is unlikely to be widely available until 2010, but MasterCard said last week its service, which lets issuers install contactless PayPass capabilities on phones remotely, will help issuers "move more aggressively into the mobile payments space."

MasterCard intends to charge banks a fee for its service, but it did not say how much.

The service will let banks avoid dealing directly with "trusted service managers" that can handle the process of installing payment software on users' mobile phones.

"The way it works, a bank would connect into us for these provisioning transactions," said James Anderson, the vice president for product development at its mobile center of excellence.

"We're aggregating all these TSMs, so the banks don't have to worry about which specific TSM is going to deliver a customer's credential to their phones."

Edward Kountz, a senior analyst at JupiterResearch, a unit of Forrester Research Inc., said he does not expect phones with near-field communication technology to become available in volume until 2010, but MasterCard felt it was "better to be a little earlier to the game than a little late."