Australian NFC pilot to get kicked off at the Masters
08 January, 2008
category: Contactless, Financial, NFC
Silicon Valley-based ViVOtech’s ViVOnfc infrastructure software for Near Field Communication (NFC) mobile phone payments is starting to be used by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in its first NFC mobile phone payment launch in conjunction with MasterCard at the Masters Golf Tournament in Australia. According to ViVOtech, this deployment marks Australia’s first NFC mobile phone payment pilot and supports both credit and prepaid mobile phone payments. NFC phones will be given away at the golf tournament and can be used throughout the country for payment at any contactless-enabled store.
ViVOtech Powers the First Australian NFC Mobile Phone Payment Pilot for Commonwealth Bank of Australia
ViVOtech provides NFC and Over-The-Air infrastructure software supporting both MasterCard® PayPass™ credit and prepaid cards
SANTA CLARA, Calif., January 8th, 2008 – Silicon Valley-based ViVOtech announced today that its ViVOnfc infrastructure software for Near Field Communication (NFC) mobile phone payments is being used by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in its first NFC mobile phone payment launch in conjunction with MasterCard at the MasterCard Masters Golf Tournament. This deployment marks Australia’s first NFC mobile phone payment pilot and supports both credit and prepaid mobile phone payments. NFC phones given away at the MasterCard Masters Golf Tournament launch can be used throughout the country for payment at any contactless-enabled store.
“We’re really excited to be the first Australian Bank to trial contactless payment technology using Near Field Communication (NFC),” said Lynda McMillan Executive Manager, Credit Cards Issuing at the Commonwealth Bank. “ViVOtech’s NFC payment solution was selected because of its easy to use wallet interface for users and the company’s proven and highly secure OTA provisioning infrastructure to easily manage credit and debit card downloads.”
The Commonwealth Bank is the first Australian bank to introduce a contactless payment solution like MasterCard PayPass to the Australian market and is the first institution to introduce NFC-enabled mobile phone payments into the country. For this trial program, ViVOtech is supplying Commonwealth Bank with its full line of NFC-enabled payment products including:
- A Commonwealth Bank-branded ViVOwallet mobile phone user interface supporting easy downloads of MasterCard’s PayPass credit and debit cards
- ViVOnfc Issuer Server that provides over-the-air (OTA) loading and personalization of card details into the mobile phones
- ViVOnfc Control Server to provide over-the-air (OTA) management of wallet loading and personalization.
“We are pleased to have been selected as provider of the NFC mobile phone payment and OTA provisioning software technology for this significant NFC payment trial in the Asia-Pacific region.” said Michael Mullagh, ViVOtech CEO. “Today our vision of a truly mobile society is one step closer to reality as the launch of this program will allow Australian consumers to use their mobile phones for credit and debit payments at contactless merchant locations across Australia.”
This trial marks ViVOtech’s entry onto another continent, expanding its ViVOnfc trial customer base across the globe. The ViVOnfc suite of products has been used in over 16 pilot programs worldwide and enables mobile phone payments, promotions and marketing programs. The ViVOnfc solution was recently named as a finalist in the prestigious SESAMES Award for Software in 2007 and is ready for the upcoming commercial roll-outs of mobile phone payments expected in 2008.
About ViVOtech
ViVOtech (www.vivotech.com) is the market leader in Near Field Communication (NFC) mobile payments, promotions, and over the air (OTA) provisioning infrastructure software, transaction management software, NFC smart posters, and Contactless terminals. These innovative solutions allow millions of consumers to make Contactless payments with radio frequency-enabled credit/debit cards, key fobs, and NFC mobile phones. ViVOtech’s products are used by some of the most prominent retailers in the United States. Currently, with more than 330,000 units in 27 countries, ViVOtech’s products are in use at movie theaters, fast food restaurants (QSR), casual dining establishments, convenience stores, gas stations, drug stores, grocery stores, buses, taxicabs, kiosks and vending machines, enabling a wide variety of businesses to accept Contactless/NFC payments and promotions. ViVOtech’s investors include Alloy Ventures, Draper Fisher Juvertson, First Data, Motorola, NCR and Nokia. In 2007, ViVOtech was named #1 in New ABI Research Contactless reader ranking. ViVOtech was also recognized as Top Contactless Payment Technology Vendor in Aberdeen Group’s “Retail Contactless Payment Report”.
