MasterCard has recently made public a software development kit that will help developers work with the company’s mobile PayPass technology. The SDK will only support Android and Blackberry OS 7 platforms because Apple’s IOS has decided not to include Near Field Communication (NFC) in its latest iPhone 5. The move by MasterCard is seen as support for the NFC technology and the financial services firm’s gamble to grab more of the mobile payments market. The software development kit will give third party developers the capability to incorporate MasterCard’s “tap-and-go” contactless mobile payments solution into mobile applications. If a lot of developers decide to go with MasterCard’s PayPass service, the company may quickly find itself a leader in the field.
MasterCard’s SDK is expected to aid in the rapid development of mobile apps with payment processing using the NFC technology by offering a number of different tools to programmers. Some the tools included in the SDK are “API code libraries, API documentation, a developer guide, sample UI application code, a white-label reference UI application, and a test suite for compliance.” All this is expected to help developers integrate PayPass technology with “mobile payment apps, mobile banking apps or mobile wallets.”
The SDK deals with the third party developers but MasterCard has not forgotten the phone manufacturers and has stated that there are currently 70 smartphones that have NFC technology and are compatible with the PayPass technology. These approved devices include the Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC One X, Sony Xperia S and BlackBerry Bold 9900.
MasterCard may have an uphill battle with NFC and PayPass even though it is accepted worldwide. The problem arises from the fact that a major samrtphone manufacturer like Apple has not put NFC on their phones. This means a large chunk of users cannot utilize the service in the U.S. and other markets where Apple’s iPhone is the dominant smartphone. A division like this could confuse customers and may doom the technology. However, to support its move to back NFC, MasterCard points at research from Juniper Research that estimates 300 million phones will have NFC technology by 2014. Research firm Gartner has had similar predictions and states that the by 2016 the world will see $617 billion in mobile payments.
MasterCard has finalized deals with a number of European telecoms and banks for its technology and the SDK is meant to help these partners integrate the technology easily into their services and devices. The SDK is free to use and this should encourage developers to at least give the service a try.
Source: TechCrunch
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