Visa Partners With Samsung to Bring PayWave to Next Generation Samsung Devices

PayWave, Visa’s mobile wallet app, will be preinstalled on the “next generation” of Samsungdevices, Visa confirmed on Monday. The platform is part of the “Visa Ready Program,” which allows companies (banks, carriers, manufacturers) to connect to Visa’s network. To that end, future Samsung owners will be able to use NFC to take advantage of the system for mobile payments.

Unfortunately, The Verge suggests PayWave likely isn’t coming to the states, though Visa didn’t outright say so in as many words. Visa said it’s more focused on markets that have less “heavily operator subsidized models,” so take that for what it’s worth. We can certainly expect Verizon to skip out—if it does come to the U.S.—as the company has its own solution and has previously shunned Google Wallet.

Seeing as the next generation of Samsung devices will receive the PayWave treatment, perhaps we’ll see it first on the Galaxy S IV. That we won’t know until March 14.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

MasterCard announces PayPass User Interface SDK, lets devs roll their own NFC payment-enabled apps

MasterCard has been in the cashless payment game for quite a while, and now it's hoping to get more developers on the PayPass bandwagon with its freshly unveiled user interface software development kit. By leveraging the SDK, programmers will be able to bake the firm's NFC payment system, which is compatible with over 70 handsets, into their own Android or BlackBerry OS 7 apps. The kit is free to license and includes API code libraries, documentation, a developer guide, sample code, a white-label reference application and a testing suite. Once apps are created with the SDK, they'll have to go through MasterCard's approval process before they go live. Yearning to code PayPass-enabled smartphone software? Check out the press release below for more details.

[Source: Engadget]