During the London Olympic Games this year, Visa showcased its latest and greatest credit card payment technologies. Perhaps the most innovative one is what Visa calls payWave. It allows consumers to complete a transaction simply by waving their credit card or smart phone next to a point-of-sale terminal compliant with NFC standards. If your purchase is small, under $31, there is no need for a PIN or signature to authorize payment.
According to Visa, currently 37 million payWave cards are in circulation in Europe with 140,000 compliant terminals in the UK alone. But was Visa successful in making the Olympics the first step towards the contactless revolution? Not so much. Only 150,000 payments in the Games venues were made using wave-and-pay technology.
Contrary to industry experts’ predictions, the Olympic Games may have not boosted demand for contactless payment. YouGov’s recent Mobile Wallet tracking study reveals that, only 12 percent of the UK population is aware of the existence of NFC technology. Additionally, there is still great concern about the security of mobile payments. This doesn’t mean that the demand won’t increase in the future though. Visa is certainly optimistist. The company has recently partnered with Ingencio to install payWave contactless payment terminals across the Russian retail chain Sedmoy Continent. Equipment should be in place for all 156 stores to accept Visa payWave by September 2012.
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