Visa versus Apple Mobile-Payment Showdown Looming
When it comes to the virtual chess game of mobile payments, it looks like Visa and Apple are making more opening moves than a grandmaster.
On one side, Visa acquired CyberSource to help fend of eBay’s PayPal and other mobile-payment vendors.
On the other side, Apple appears to be developing a mobile payment system for the iPhone, linking directly to a user’s iTunes account.
What does this mean for banks?
American Banker (registration required) ran an article today (also picked up by Gartner) that may help answer that question: “Apple’s Mobile Vision Cuts Banks Out of the Picture.”
The article suggest Apple has been filing patents for adding Near Field Communication (NFC) chips to future iPhones, a key element of mobile or “contactless” payments.
Such functionality would enable the iPhone to be a virtual wallet, not directly tied to a bank’s debit or credit card, but linked to one’s iTunes account, thereby cutting banks out of some of the payment loop.
For a glimpse into what Apple is up to, the American Banker article cited patent filings No. 20100082491 and No. 20100082444.
Meanwhile, let the chess match begin.
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