Exciting news today for Canadian TELUS subscribers and members of CIBC bank – they have paired up to offer a mobile payment service for those users of certain devices that support Near-Field Communications (NFC); namely the Samsung Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 2, and the HTC One. The other criteria are that you must have a CIBC branded credit card and download the CIBC mobile app in the Google Play Store, and the payment cannot go above $50. This service will be available at over 250,000 merchants that support the MasterCard PayPass or Visa PayWave point-of-sale (POS) systems – 19 of the top 25 merchants in Canada accept non-contact payments.
TELUS has plans to certify and launch new devices, and stated that later this month, that the BlackBerry Z10, BlackBerry Q10, and BlackBerry Bold 9900 will be added and ready to participate in the program. TELUS has stated that their customers have told them that they wanted a secure way to make purchases with their smartphones and this is a step in that direction.
Todd Roberts, Senior Vice-President, Payments Strategy and Innovation, CIBC said:
“We are excited to be working with TELUS to put the convenience of mobile payments into the hands of more Canadians and build on our industry-leading mobile payments offer. Our clients have embraced mobile technology as part of their banking experience, and we believe 2014 will be a year of significant growth for mobile payments as more Canadians start reaching for their phone instead of their wallet at the checkout counter. Right from day one when we launched our first of its kind mobile payment app, we heard from clients about how convenient it is, and about the positive reactions from their friends and family when they’ve paid at the checkout counter with their phone. That’s why we are excited about today’s announcement with TELUS, which represents a significant expansion in the mobile payments market and brings this service to more Canadians in 2014.”
CIBC became the first bank in Canada, in November 2012, to complete a mobile credit card transaction with a smartphone and now they are the only bank to offer these mobile payments on two major carriers. This opens the door for the 46-percent of Canadians, age 18-44, that said they would like to make mobile purchases using their smartphone.
Please let us know on our Google+ Page if you are excited about making payments with your smartphone, rather than having to carry a separate credit card.
Source: CIBC | Via: Phonearena