Mobile Wallets Utilizing Near Field Communication (NFC) Technology

By David Bowlin, marketing consultant, and Peter Michaud, marketing intelligence, TSYS Acquiring Solutions

The recently-coined phrase "mobile wallet" refers to a payment system, typically on a mobile telephone, that stores credit cards, loyalty cards, gift cards and sales promotions. A number of factors have driven this form of payment, with many players currently vying for their position.

These companies are using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that allows for simplified transactions, data exchange and wireless connections between two devices in close proximity. Consumers with NFC-enabled mobile wallet (i.e. smartphone) can pay for purchases by waving their devices near or tapping them on the reader.

Although there are other payment methods at the point-of-sales such as bar codes (Yespay), audio signature (Zoosh) and proximity (PayPal's Bump), we are focusing on NFC since it is getting the lion's share of the attention in the industry.