Not to be outdone by MasterCard, Visa has announced a global alliance with Samsung that will see Visa payment functionality ship with the next generation of Samsung NFC enabled smartphones.

The alliance will also seek to partner with financial institutions to accelerate and integrate their mobile payment solutions and “offer banks the ability to load payment account information over-the-air to a secure chip embedded in Samsung devices, using Visa’s Mobile Provisioning Service.”

Samsung devices enabled with Visa payment functionality will no doubt be a powerful product offering – especially in markets where paying with a mobile device is becoming commonplace… However, the key to making mobile payments broadly available all over the world is to offer financial institutions a

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After we’d heard much about Vodafone, Visa, Westpac and ANZ working on mobile banking and payment solutions – there wasn’t that much flying around about MasterCard. However they’ve come out today all guns blazing with MasterPass. MC have today sent out a press release that has unveiled a whole bundle of joy for us!

Eddie Grobler, MasterCard Australasia divisional president said:

It’s about convenience, accessibility and security … Australian consumers want to embrace mobile payments, and MasterPass is a crucial step in the evolution from plastic cards to digital wallets.

With MasterPass, consumers can safely do their grocery shopping on the train on the way home from work, or make a last minute gift purchase on their lunch break, without

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Google Wallet is Google’s own NFC-based mobile payment system. It pretty much works through entering your card details (or purchasing a pre-paid card), placing the details on your phone and using your phone as a kind of PayPass device – it’s brilliant. The problem? It never made it down under.

Down under, we have a few banks that are stepping up and trying to fill the void that has been left for us. CommBank launched their Kaching app, which unfortunately never got the grace of NFC-based payments. At the same time, Westpac and ANZ are currently working on their own versions of NFC-based mobile applications – but we’ve got a bit of a wait on our hands.

If you …

The Financial Review is reporting some interesting news about ANZ’s development today – in particular for us, their Android development.

It appears as though the ANZ bank is set to announce a $1.5 billion five year investment strategy. This will mainly include the bolstering of mobile services and installing video conference units.

The ANZ bank’s Australia chief executive, Philip Chronican, is likely set to announce a few new additions to its mobile services. That is, an iPhone and iPad app for quick debiting and more importantly trialling the use of NFC-based payments on Android phones.

While this isn’t yet set in stone, it looks like ANZ will be moving into the future of mobile banking. Perhaps they’ll even beat CommBank…

Westpac has in the last few days been testing out their Android mobile payment app. They have invited 100 individuals – from Westpac staff and business partners – to begin trialling the app.

With the addition of NFC-enabled payment, Westpac is doing what CommBank failed to – utilize the NFC features of Android.  The Westpac Bank’s Android application does what we have all been waiting for. It allows you to make payments with your NFC enabled phone simply by touching it to a PayPass terminal. After entering you bank card details it will engage with your account and allow you to make transactions directly.

Axel Boye-Moller, Westpac’s head of mortgages, cards and merchants said:

Effectively, we put the Westpac Debit

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After launching on iOS quite some time ago, Commonwealth bank have finally launched the Kaching app for Android. While we were all waiting for an NFC-enabled app that could allow us to pay at PayPass terminals and transfer money with a simple tap – this has not happened. Instead, the Commbank Kaching app is focused on more minor features. That being said, there are still some very interesting and usable features:

• Simple Balance  - No need to log in. Swipe
• Transfer between accounts - Transfer money between your own accounts
• View transactions – View past transactions
• BPAY – Easy and fast bill payment
• Pay Facebook, mobile and email contacts - That’s pretty cool. PAy your friends.
• Enter app with 4-digit

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One of the simplest hobbies going around is cards. By simple I mean that it involves no tech, no computers, nothing to ‘make your eyes go square.’ But it appears those days are over. Popular card manufacturer, Bicycle, have invented a pack of cards that come packed with NFC chips under the hood.

What could the chips possibly do?

This was my first question. You have cards to play with and if you’re a tech-head there are a variety of ‘card- based’ apps on the market to download and play around with. What more could you need? The team over at Bicycle obviously thought they could take it one step further.

The chips are used for only a very minor …

G’day all!

Here is today’s news -

Motorola ‘can’t make money’ selling stock Android phones? Read here!

Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt believes Android can become a ‘home automation’ system of its own? Interesting stuff, read here!

Jealous of all the Galaxy Nexus owners with a NFC chip? New micro-SD card doubles as a NFC chip! Read here!

Anyone who hasn’t upgraded their Facebook for Android App - Please do so immediately, and this is why!

Have a Happy Thursday!