Visa Europe has launched a contactless mobile payment system in Turkey for Akbank customers. It uses the DeviceFidelity 'In2Pay' NFC microSD card fitted to compatible BlackBerry devices. Other smartphones will be supported in the future.
Akbank customers will be able to pay using their phones at retailers with Visa payWave terminals. The service is being described as "Europe’s first microSD-based mobile payment systems
Mary Carol Harris, Head of Mobile at Visa Europe, said "One of the key challenges to the success of mobile payments is the supply and availability of NFC handsets. Until a majority of mobile handsets offered in the market are supplied with integrated NFC, Visa is proactively working with innovators like DeviceFidelity and pioneers such as Akbank to harness the potential of new technologies. These solutions make the future of payment real today and are key to accelerating mobile payments in Turkey and across Europe. Once again, Visa, through Akbank and our strategic partners, are leading the mobile payments market."
MasterCard is currently working with the Garanti bank in Turkey; it aims to provide customers with NFC-enabled SIM cards from Gemalto.