Verifone Makes Paying by Mobile Phone a Possibility

Check this blog out as it appears in our April Issue of Business Review Canada. Trust us, it's way cooler to read this article when you can flip through our user-friendly e-reader.

VeriFone Inc is revolutionizing the retail industry by offering new payment solutions for retailers and customers. With opportunities to leave the wallet behind, paying by mobile phone could the next popular way to make purchases.

VeriFone’s most popular mobile phone payment product uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. NFC is wireless technology that doesn’t require contact to connect objects. NFC capable products will connect when within four centimeters of each other. Able to transact payments, NFC technology can be used for other connections as well. Once the NFC capable, VeriFone can overtime enable seamless ways to accept contactless coupons, loyalty, rewards and more. The mobile payment package by VeriFone keeps businesses covered by providing software and firmware upgrades that the cash register equipment needs. As new technology develops, mobile payment is being rapidly adopted as an alternative compensation method.

Mobile payment technology will provide smartphone customers with a new way to make purchases. Customers will no longer feel the need to carry cash, credit or debit cards. An NFC-enabled smart phone will be the new key to purchasing on the go.

Payments made using NFC would most likely be used in physical stores or transportation services. Purchases would be deducted from a pre-paid account or charged to mobile credit cards and bank accounts directly. Parking meter or vending machine payments are other benefit possibilities for NFC mobile payment technology.

Google is rumored to be pairing up with VeriFone in the coming months to test mobile payment technology in stores around major cities. To carry out this test, thousands of special VeriFone cash register systems will be installed in city merchant locations. Google’s mobile payment tests could lead to the industry becoming more widely accepted as a new payment alternative.

Google isn’t the only company checking out the pay by mobile phone market. Other corporations are also trying to explore what these services have to offer. PayPal has recently joined with ISIS to test mobile payment opportunities in the U.S. later this year.

Obviously, wireless technology is changing the scope of the retail industry. Mobile payment adoption by retailers in the future will depend heavily on the availability of phones with NFC technology. With Google’s influence and NFC capable smartphones already in development, paying with your mobile phone in the near future seems like a large possibility.