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Visa Bringing The Power Of Plastic To Android

Visa has committed to creating a financial application for the Android platform that will provide notifications, alerts, and other location-based services. Visa also is teaming up with Nokia to enable mobile payments.

Whether it be paying via SMS, NFC, or other system, using mobile phones as a payment platform will be a reality some day. Taking a small step toward the rosy future of using our mobile phones for everything is Visa, which announced that it will create an entire suite of applications for Android. The application will be available for download on Android-powered handsets and initially available to Chase Visa cardholders.

The services will allow Visa cardholders to receive notifications to their mobile devices about transaction activity on their accounts; obtain offers from a wide array of merchants; and use the built-in location-based technology developed by Google to quickly map nearby merchants where they can redeem Visa offers and locate ATMs that accept Visa. In addition, Visa also is developing a payment application that will enable consumers with Visa accounts to make mobile payments in retail locations nationwide, or while on the go, over wireless networks.

At the moment, there has been no talk of empowering any Android-based phones with near-field communications for contactless payments, but Visa is moving forward with NFC plans with Nokia. Beginning with the 6212 Classic, which is expected to be available in October 2009, the Visa application will be made available for trial use by interested financial institutions. Trials will allow consumers with the 6212 and a relationship with a participating Visa issuing bank to use their handsets for a variety of payment and related services, including remote payments, money transfer, and alerts and notifications.

Mobile payment trials have been conducted all over the world at this point. It would be nice to see financial institutions, handset manufacturers, and network operators truly move forward with full-scale deployments. For now, progress is marching along slowly.

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