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April 15, 2011 – Following last week’s trial completion, Australians will be able to use their smartphones to make Visa card payments at shops within a year.
Ben Pfisterer, Visa Australia innovation director, reported that the four-week trial conducted with ANZ Bank where staff used enhanced Apple iPhones for retail payments had been totally successful.
Though Apple has not committed to the NFC or “near-field communication” technology, a short-range wireless technology for its iPhone 5, as according to the report in The Australian last month, has created a phone case that permits an iPhone for contactless payment technology now.
Mr Pfisterer said that the system would be ready for adoption within a year.
He added that the only piece of infrastructure that’s left to be done is for phones to come on to the market which has already been started and all the rest of the infrastructure is available and it’s only a matter of implementation.
He also said that the usual security concerns about downloaded apps malware stealing a phone’s personal financial details did not pose a risk.
However, some security experts say that because of the varying security cultures of the banking sector, SIM card makers, operating system providers, and phone manufacturers, smartphone payments may still be subject to constant security violations.
The makers of the Android smartphone platform, particularly Google, have endured the burden of criticism for its failure to inspect apps in its Android Market.
However, Australian Visa tourist is not alarmed about the potential of malware to inflict confusion with a smartphone-based payment system.
Mr. Pfisterer assures the public that credit card details were encrypted and transactions were encoded using “triple data encryption” so each Visa transaction, having unique “cryptogram”, could not be intercepted and reused to make fraudulent transactions.
Visa had worked with the major banks, credit unions, and building societies to prepare the technology, according to Mr Pfisterer. Individual banks could choose the services offered, such as a debit card, credit card, or EFTPOS transaction.
Customers would launch a smartphone app in order to start a transaction. They could put PIN-lock in their phone and the app to enhance security. Then in order to complete the transaction, a smartphone is waved within about four centimetres of the receiver. In this case, a Visa PayWave device.
Mr Pfisterer. said that PayWave payments could only take 2-10 seconds.

Source:
theaustralian.com.au